Progressive Death

Obscura – Diluvium Review

Obscura – Diluvium Review

By Angry Metal Guy on July 12, 2018 in 2018, Death Metal, German Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Death, Relapse, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 197 comments

“Obscura’s 2009 release, Cosmogensis, dropped right when I was getting back into metal in a big way. I, like most people who heard it at the time, hailed it as the spiritual successor to Necrophagist and crowned the band the Kings o’ Noodly Death Metal. They have, in my estimation, never lived up to these expectations. Both Omnivium and Arkóasis fell flat, and both suffered from similar weaknesses; ballooning song and album-lengths, often at the cost of compositional focus and coherence.” If that’s not a cliff-hanger that makes you need to click, nothing is!

Bookakee – Ignominies Review

Bookakee – Ignominies Review

By Master of Muppets on June 28, 2018 in 2018, Canadian Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, Transcending Records, Technical Death Metal, 96 comments

“…and though the word of the land was good — for blessed are they who toil as to bring glory unto Jørn — there were those that spake a word which decried all that is right and trve, and through their blasphemy bestowed they unto the land a pox which made a mockery of these things rendered unto all by our Lord’s Jørn-ness. ‘Behold!’ spake the Muppet ‘ye heathens ov Canada! Hear me, I beg! Renounce thy false idol and remove its name from thine tongues forever!'” Muppet the Revelator.

Burial in the Sky – Creatio et Hominus Review

Burial in the Sky – Creatio et Hominus Review

By Kronos on June 8, 2018 in 2018, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Releases, Reviews, Self-released, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 99 comments

“Of all places, Pennsylvania has seen a strange upwelling of prog-death bands in recent years. It started with the much-maligned Rivers of Nihil, gained momentum with Black Crown Initiate, and finally got going with Alustrium. Burial in the Sky jumped aboard with their 2016 LP Persistence of Thought, an album very much in the progressive vein of those groups, tying in bits of classic prog-death a la Atheist and Cynic with the tropes of core-polluted modern death metal.” Penn-death.

Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy Review

Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy Review

By Saunders on May 22, 2018 in 2018, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, 135 comments

“The Malkuth Grimoire marked an exciting beginning for the star-studded line-up of Alkaloid. Escaping the imposing shadows of the band members other projects in unique and often unconventional ways, the album was very well received by myself and the metal community at large. Despite the chinks in its futuristic armory, such as the excessive bloat and ambitious but not always successful experimentation, Alkaloid emphatically proved they weren’t content to coast by with another typical tech death project. Now Hannes Grossman, Christian Münzner and co return with Liquid Anatomy.” Fluid dynamics.

Monotheist – Scourge Review

Monotheist – Scourge Review

By Ferrous Beuller on April 6, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 88 comments

“In the past I’ve been guilty of turning my nose up at anything that could even remotely be considered “Christian metal.” The fact is – my own theistic opinions aside – this has left me unavailable to enjoy some fantastic music; a mistake I was not planning on making with Orlando’s Monotheist and their inaugural full-length, Scourge.” Death and the hereafter.

Augury – Illusive Golden Age Review

Augury – Illusive Golden Age Review

By Kronos on March 30, 2018 in 2018, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, The Artisan Era, Technical Death Metal, 63 comments

“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.

Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology Review

Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology Review

By Saunders on February 28, 2018 in 2018, Death Metal, English Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, Willowtip, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, 24 comments

“If it wasn’t obvious already, dynamic UK duo Slugdge is the real-fucking deal. Across their first three LP’s Slugdge shook off any suggestion they were a flash in the pan gimmick band, moving in advanced directions beyond their strange and humorous slug-obsessed philosophy and creative song title puns, to forge a wonderfully versatile and fiercely unique extreme metal hybrid. From modest cult heroes, Slugdge are now on the cusp of entering the big leagues.” Look at that escargot!

Archspire – Relentless Mutation Review

Archspire – Relentless Mutation Review

By Kronos on September 21, 2017 in 2017, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Season of Mist, Technical Death Metal, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 97 comments

“The Lucid Collective may have made Archspire’s career, but Relentless Mutation is the album that will make their legacy. Three years ago, Archspire’s second record dropped, followed by the mandible of many a tech death fan. Just when we thought the late 2000s tech death sound generated by the Sumerian/Unique Leader cohort was finally on its way out, here was an album that took the style and sprinted away with it, not even pausing at the finish line to let your ears catch up. It was concise, brutal, and spectacularly tight, setting new standards of both performance and writing, simultaneously catchy and indulgent. I would have been quite pleased to see Relentless Mutation recap the whole thing. But that’s not what happened.” Evolve via mutation.