The Artisan Era

Augury – Illusive Golden Age Review

Augury – Illusive Golden Age Review

“Before Beyond Creation, there was Augury. At the tail end of the 2000s, the Quebeckers were at the forefront of the proggy side of tech-death along with Anata and Obscura, and their 2009 LP Fragmentary Evidence is a too-often overlooked milestone in the genre – perhaps because so many contemporary tech death albums (Cosmogenesis, Those Whom the Gods Detest, Oracles, Everything is Fire) were just as good and bore follow-up releases. Yes, for a long time it seemed that Augury had been outright replaced by Beyond Creation, who snatched the torch of Montreal’s world-class tech death scene, but a bit shy of a decade later, here we are with Illusive Golden Age.” Back from the tech-dead.

Inanimate Existence – Under a Melting Sky Review

Inanimate Existence – Under a Melting Sky Review

“I love to see a band you can’t quite pin down. I picked up the thread on Inanimate Existence with their sophomore effort, A Never Ending Cycle of Atonement, an album which couldn’t decide whether to be brutal or proggy — and was much better at the latter. Then came Calling from a Dream, and a radical redirection towards the band’s strengths. It was concise, melodic, interesting, and above all, memorable, an experiment in storytelling and fantasy that worked remarkably well. Just a year later, the band is back, this time with yet another new direction.” Tech-mech.