“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!
![Redemptor – Arthaneum [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Redemptor-Arthaneum1.jpg)
“By technical death metal standards, Arthaneum is an odd but compelling beast that stands-out by operating outside the box, while holding all the trademarks avid listeners of the style have come to expect. The intricate and complex musicianship impresses in all departments, but there’s a more measured, controlled approach, rather than purely focusing on unrelenting barrages of speed and cramming as many notes and ideas into each song as humanly possible.” There’s no place like tech-death for the holidays.
![Shadow of Intent – Reclaimer [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Shadow-of-Intent-Reclaimer-Cover-768x768.jpg)
“Shadow of Intent have a lot in common with your typical power metal band. Florid guitar lines, cheesy orchestration, slick production, and ridiculous space fantasy lyrics (pulled straight from the Halo video games) are elements you’d expect for a band of central European hair-conditioner-connoisseurs.” Brvtal power!
“Having generated quite the buzz with their debut album thanks, in no small part, to the reputation of frontman, Dr. Nick Vasallo, whose legacy as musical professor, composer extraordinaire and deathcore wizard continues to precede him, expectations were set justifiably high.” The path to tech-wank.
“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.
“Addition, subtraction, so much of metal involves the bolting-on and prying-off of countless sub-genres. Musicians and critics often fall into the trap of viewing music less as an expression of fertile creativity and more like a chest of drawers awaiting assembly. Start with a death metal base, insert black metal vocals into socket B, affix progressive chords perpendicular to the shelves… wait, we’re missing two slats and I’ve stripped a screw. Billed as a melding of tech death, black, and thrash, Omnipotence – The Infinite Darkness by Toronto natives Astaroth Incarnate had the cynic in me guessing the end-result without listening to a single note.” Maths are hard.
“Why tech-death insists on being an exercise in as many bands as possible doing the exact same thing as each other, is something that baffles. On that note, and with Beuller-approved levels of irony, let’s talk about some dudes from Dubai and what they’ve done with the genre on their third full-length, Past, Present… Torture.” Dial N for Nile, oh, and Nervecell.
“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.
“Okay, look. Look. I get that I’m not “The Tech Death Guy” around these parts, but I have valid opinions about the genre, too, I swear! In my high school days, whenever I wasn’t practicing Helloween riffs, I was trying (in vain) to replicate Gorod licks. And records like the latter band’s Process of a New Decline and Spawn of Possession’s Noctambulant were some of the most–spun records of my teenage years. Though I no longer ingest the stuff at a ravenous rate (my doctors told me all those noodles were bad for my health), the genre still holds my interest, with bands like Polyptych giving me hope that there’s life for the scene outside of countless Necrophagist clones.” Noodles through the ages.
“Three years: a trial for many, an eternity for some, an unnoticeable instant of geology. But enough time for Pyrrhon’s The Mother of Virtues to become a landmark work in extreme music, the most forward-thinking and brazen death metal album of the decade thus far. When I reviewed it, I mused that “A more difficult album [was] hard to come by.” What Passes for Survival is that and more.” Worth the weight.
