More tech-death you say? Maybe that’s the new re-thrash! Hmm, what kind of tank does one drive to support tech-death? It better be something brootal!
Necrophagist
Sophicide – Perdition of the Sublime Review
Technical death metal was the darling of the death metal scene about 5 or 6 years ago, but since the ever-growing retro-death craze has begun to take over the number of quality technical death metal releases that I’ve gotten my hands on has dramatically decreased. Still, that didn’t stop the now 22 year-old Adam Sazslo from writing a bunch of pretty fucking sweet techy songs and getting himself a worldwide deal with Willowtip. Perdition of the Sublime is Sophicide’s debut record and one can see why this record – produced by someone who can’t tour to support it – is being released by a label of this quality: because it’s a truly elite technical death metal experience.
Gorod – A Perfect Absolution Review
So Gorod doesn’t suck.
Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Beyond Creation – The Aura
I made comments earlier to the effect of that I’d not heard the 2011 death metal record of the year. Nader Sadek definitely fills in that gap deftly, but Beyond Creation’s 2011 release The Aura from some obscure Canadian Label that is going on a 6 month vacation so you can’t actually order records from […]
Illogicist – The Unconsciousness of Living Review
I first became acquainted with Illogicist back in 2007, at the height of the tech-death explosion, via a record called The Insight Eye. What intrigued me about these Italian virtuosos at the time was that, unlike most of the scene they were lumped in with, they leaned less towards “tech” and way more towards “death.” The band was clearly influenced by early 90s progressive death metal like Atheist and late-era Death, a.k.a. shit that I really like. And yet, despite all the potential, the album seemed to be missing something.
Obscura – Omnivium Review
March has really been one hell of a month, hasn’t it? To think after Amon Amarth and Vintersorg we get to follow it all up with Obscura’s Omnivium. If any record counts as the most-anticipated of the year, Obscura is probably getting pretty close to that level. Having released in 2009, what was really a hell of a surprise for most listeners (including people who’d purchased their previous record) in Cosmogenesis, these technical death metallers built on their Necrophagist cred (and sound) and on the legacy of the mighty Death with their technical, progressive death metal, complete with awesome fretless bass attack. So, while this isn’t really a record that can fall victim of the sophomore slump (being the band’s third record), it certainly is an album that could fall victim to overly heightened expectations. And, I must admit, this Angry Metal Guy certainly had heightened expectations
