Technical Death Metal

Rings of Saturn – Lugal Ki En Review

By Kronos on October 7, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Deathcore, Reviews, Unique Leader, Death Metal, Deathcore, Technical Death Metal, 29 comments

“I want one thing to be perfectly clear in your mind before you begin reading the body of this review: I hate Rings of Saturn. The band is the antithesis of everything I like about heavy music: they’re popular, smug, and have a fanbase largely made up of teenagers with gauged earlobes and fitted caps. Their guitar tone is incredibly clean, their drums make St. Anger look like The Destroyers of All, they have no bassist, and they throw around breakdowns as often as they throw around new age/horror sci-fi horseshit lyrics.” Kronos has a deeply conflicted relationship with this band. Please support him as he works through his issues.

Decapitated – Blood Mantra Review

By Kronos on October 1, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Polish Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 22 comments

“August. Cicaidas scream in the oaks. The punishing sun presses vapors from the Earth, rendering the air nearly drinkable. You could brew tea in the steam rising in the morning light. Even the dogs relinquish their rightfully-given portion of summer in favor of an air-conditioned shelter. Inside of that shelter, complete with the high-speed internet needed to distract one from the horrors of the season, a terrible, moments-long sound streams from the wide, unblinking eyes of the speakers. It sounds like fucking Decapitated.” Death, thy name is Decapitated.

Kronos Comments: On Sampling Bias and the Seedy Underbelly of the Australian Metal Scene

By Kronos on September 14, 2014 in Australian Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Djent, Groove Metal, Metalcore, Post-Rock, Unsigned Bands, Death Metal, Deathcore, Djent, Metalcore, Post-Metal, Technical Death Metal, 25 comments

“Just about every day, Angry Metal Guy pushes out a review of an upcoming or recently released album, producing press for the album whether we love it or hate it. It exposes readers to a lot of material, but disadvantages artists who aren’t putting out music at any given time. Given a small temporal window, this creates a very biased sample of the music scene. I love reviewing albums, but a lot of great and criminally overlooked bands are in between releases right now, and it kills me to see their hard work go unseen. So in order to rectify their invisibility, they’re being talked about here, where my shitty opinions have the outsized soapbox needed to fling themselves out onto the populace like fetid water from a fire sprinkler.”

Solace of Requiem – Casting Ruin Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on September 12, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, ViciSolum Productions, Black Metal, Technical Death Metal, 9 comments

If there is one thing that can be said about Solace of Requiem, it’s that these guys have yet to pick a style and run with it. Comparing their albums to one another is like comparing metal to sushi. However, their lack of staleness is breath of fresh air (or in this case “putridity?”). Appearing on the scene in 2004 with their self-titled debut of Morbid Angel worship, these guys stuck to the time-tested formula of old-school death metal; mean, fast, and in-your-face. From there they expanded that style by introducing some groove and thrashier elements on Utopia Reborn before incorporating a black-infused tech death approach on their third release, The Great Awakening. Do you like brutal sushi? Do you enjoy an ever shifting musical template? One stop shopping right here, folks!

Omnihility – Deathscapes of the Subconscious Review

By Kronos on July 16, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Rating, Reviews, Unique Leader, Technical Death Metal, 4 comments

“Most of the time, technical death and progressive death pretty much go hand in hand. Anyone with the chops to play at breakneck speeds and shred with the best of them will want to show off not just their technical skill, but their ability to bring something new to the table, and this mentality has only gained adherents as the style has flourished. But occasionally there arises a group of musicians who want nothing more than to play in the style of Cannibal Corpse but do it at twice the speed. That’s where Omnihility fits into the picture.” Kronos continues his campaign to review every tech-death act on the Unique Leader roster. FIGHT!

Fallujah – The Flesh Prevails Review

By Kronos on July 14, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Unique Leader, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 134 comments

“The hype train chugs along, never stopping, continuously boarding and ejecting passengers. Such is the way of the metal press; we collectively run to cling on to the sides of the cars as they pass by, only to jump from their doors days later, hit the ground rolling, and dust ourselves off as we search for a new ride. Recently, as you’ve probably noticed, coal has been heaped into the firebox as metal zines blow the horn for the juggernaut’s latest destination, Fallujah’s The Flesh Prevails.” The Hype Train is a fickle mistress.

Origin – Omnipresent Review

By Kronos on July 2, 2014 in 2014, Agonia Records, American Metal, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, 17 comments

“It’s entirely reasonable to say that Origin are the most important thing in the entire state of Kansas, but for anyone who has been to Kansas, the declaration isn’t all that that impressive. Their work, however, speaks for itself. Three years ago, Entity absolutely wiped the floor with some of the most abrasive, technical, and impressive music the group has ever produced, and expectations for Omnipresent are naturally quite high.” Does Origin deliver that punishing blow worthy of so much expectation? Read on and find out what Kronos has to say.

Inanimate Existence – A Never-Ending Cycle of Atonement Review

By Kronos on June 22, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Unique Leader, Technical Death Metal, 26 comments

“Hey gang, it’s time to play a game. A fun game – but also a dangerous one, so make sure you’re qualified for it. In order to play you’ll need a few things: a bucket, a glass, a strong liver, and a large amount of (ideally) a slightly less strong drink. That’s right, we’re about to engage in every tech-death nerd’s plastering procedure: the Unique Leader Records drinking game! Here are the rules; I’m going to review an upcoming album from Unique Leader, and every time a Unique Leader trope appears, you take a shot.” Everybody grab a Zima and brace yourselves!

Wretched – Cannibal Review

By Kronos on June 12, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Victory Records, Technical Death Metal, 8 comments

“Wretched’s thrash-influenced yet unmistakably modern take on death metal puts them in an interesting position between extremity and accessibility. By mixing thrashy riffing with top-notch melodic death metal in the vein of Black Dahlia Murder and Arsis and paying tribute to, though never falling victim to, metalcore tropes, their last three albums have been of a consistently high quality and the band has never failed to impress.” Tech-death with some interesting bells and whistles? Could be worth reading about….

Pillory – Evolutionary Miscarriage Review

By Kronos on June 5, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Unique Leader, Technical Death Metal, 3 comments

“Promos come in and promos go out, and amongst the parade of CDs labelled as heavy metal, re-thrash, or ridiculously specific (read: nonexistent) black metal genres, there’s a disappointingly low number of tech-death releases. The last few years have been pretty good for tech-death, so it’s no surprise that the release schedule for the genre is in a lull right now, but that doesn’t make me any less sad. Thankfully, Pillory are breaking the silence with their sophomore effort Evolutionary Miscarriage.” Here’s some tech-death to noodle you into paste!