Technical Death Metal

Insect Inside – The First Shining of New Genus Review

By Dear Hollow on February 17, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 27 comments

“Slam is a style I’ve never understood. Often layered with gory shock novelty and the variety of deathcore, bands like Abominable Putridity and Epicardiectomy have only gotten a head-scratch from me with endless “djunz” and br00tal “eeeeees”. Insect Inside is a young Russian trio from Zlatoust, a demo and single released since their 2017 inception. Debut LP The First Shining of New Genus creates the soundtrack of being eaten alive by the swarm in its beatdown of groovy, thick riffs, and hell-scraping gutturals.” Slam beetles.

The Lylat Continuum – Ephemeral Review

By El Cuervo on February 15, 2021 in Reviews, Psychedelic Rock, Technical Death Metal, 11 comments

“This review is testament to the power of the pre-release single. I was immediately intrigued by the description “blending proggy death metal with psychedelic ambient breaks” and its atypical approach to death metal fulfilled this description. I specifically sought out the release in the promo swamp, dredging it up from between the smelly stoner doom and fetid black metal ordinarily infesting it. Denver’s The Lylat Continuum have brewed their potion for a number of years before releasing Ephemeral, their debut album, and it’s nothing if not inventive.” Hype and regret.

Dead Exaltation – Despondent Review

By Holdeneye on February 14, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, 49 comments

“Technical death metal is one of those “hit or miss” genres for me. While I find the intricate rhythms and minigun note delivery intoxicating at times, I still require the style’s purveyors to provide that thing for which I look in all of my metal endeavors: the almighty riff. Genre legends Cryptopsy shred like no other, but they undergird their sound with a buttload of groove, and modern technical titans Archspire and Cytotoxin make sure to riff just as hard as they noodle. While I generally don’t love overly gore-themed releases due to the nature of my work, the pickings were fairly slim for this week. So I took a chance and picked up Despondent, the debut release from India’s Dead Exaltation, nasty artwork and all.” Technical butchery.

Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum – Šahrartu Review

By TheKenWord on January 28, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 84 comments

“…or Eximperitus for short. What’s in a name, anyway? For the nameless, faceless Belarusian purveyors of brutscurity, it contains fragments of Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Akkadian, and Sumerian to form the ‘unutterable name of the antiuniverse.’ Sold. Let’s fucking go.” Names fail us.

Intellect Devourer – Demons of the Skull [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]

By L. Saunders on January 23, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 21 comments

“Here’s a heartwarming tale of perseverance in the Aussie death metal underground. Intellect Devourer formed way back in 1991, and after releasing a couple of demos, enduring splits, hiatuses and reformations, finally recorded their full-length debut, entitled Demons of the Skull, in 2020. Featuring members from various other bands, including Mournful Congregation and StarGazer, Intellect Devourer bring a wealth of battle hardened experience into an inspired batch of old school technical death songs.” Mind monsters.

Fractal Generator – Macrocosmos Review

By Dear Hollow on January 11, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 39 comments

“Fractal Generator is an Sudbury, Ontario trio with a demo and a full-length under their belt. Boasting a range of experimental enactments incorporated into their death metal foundation, including black, grind, and warped melody, it’s a dense listen full of dynamics and movements.” Just the fracts, Jack.

The EP, Split, and Single Post [Things You Might Have Missed 2020] Part III

By El Cuervo on January 3, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge Metal, Speed Metal, Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 44 comments

“The neglected, forgotten children; that’s what this post is about. Full-length albums are the proud first-born, strutting about with muscular arms and a beautiful face. But EPs?” Three times’ the harm.

Thætas – Shrines to Absurdity [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]

By TheKenWord on December 15, 2020 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, Slam, Technical Death Metal, 32 comments

“Like an evil twin of Afterbirth‘s Four Dimensional Flesh, Thætas‘ debut full-length Shrines to Absurdity feels like a different animal than the usual brand of brutal tech. Instead of Afterbirth‘s counterintuitive use of airy atmospherics and deceptively uplifting songwriting, Thætas invoke crushing despair and unnerving dissonance.” Shriny, unhappy people.

Ysgaroth – Storm Over a Black Sea Review

By Dear Hollow on November 11, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Hardcore, Sludge Metal, Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 35 comments

“Ysgaroth is a “progressive extreme metal” band from Vancouver, their self-released Storm Over a Black Sea being their debut. While I’ve never entirely understood the phrase “extreme metal,” these Canucks throw everything and the kitchen sink into their poutine platter: black metal shrieks and tremolo, thrashy riffs, hardcore drumming, technical noodling, and avant-garde post-metal/sludge strangeness for a multi-car pileup with multiple fatalities.” Frequent wind.

Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus Review

By Eldritch Elitist on October 17, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 72 comments

“While I’ve traditionally identified as a basic black metal bitch, my listening habits of late have hovered firmly above death metal territory. The art of the Big Dumb Riff has held absolute command of my Spotify search bar, and it’s all thanks to the diversity the genre pool has spawned in over three decades of evolution. Just as I finish my most recent round of dick flattening at the hands of something as unflinchingly savage as Black Curse, I know I can hop to the opposite end of the technical axis to enjoy similarly aggressive highs in a fresh context. Cryptic Shift‘s debut is about as far from something like Black Curse as you can imagine on the caveman riff spectrum, but those same thrills are all here.” Up Shift’s creek.