Classic Tech Death Album: ‘Colossal Titan Strife’ By Kronos

Posted by Goshuggist on Feb 26, 2012 in Technical Classic | 0 comments

WHO: A shining example of the astounding creativity omnipresent in French Death Metal, Kronos formed in 1994 as a Slayer influenced Thrash outfit. After a change in line up, they began to play the crushing technical/brutal Death Metal their fans know and love. 2001 saw the release of their debut LP ‘Titan’s Awakening’ from the now defunct record label ‘Warpath Records’. ‘Titan’s Awakening’ is to this day a fantastic release, but it wasn’t until 2003 that Kronos released ‘Colossal Titan Strife’, which many fans (including myself) regard as their masterpiece. Uncompromisingly brutal, technical without showboating and with a key understanding of musical progression to boot, ‘Colossal Titan Strife’ is responsible for turning more metalheads away from the mythological stylings of Nile than any other band I can think of.

Review: Hiroshima Will Burn – The Weight Of All Things

Posted by Goshuggist on Feb 26, 2012 in CD Reviews | 0 comments

HIROSHIMA WILL BURN
The Weight Of All Things (2009)

Australia, Skull And Bones Records, Technical Deathcore. 

This band has stumped me for the longest time. Not from a lack of understanding their music mind you, but rather in understanding how I should react to their music. The line between Technical Deathcore and Technical Death Metal is the line that often makes or breaks a band. Even bands so many accuse of taking things too far (Brain Drill and Viraemia come to mind) are undeniably Death Metal and undeniably amazing. Going further towards the line is Hedonistic Exility, who are much too talented for any sort of Deathcore element in their music. At the very top of the Deathcore heap reigns Abiotic, who have earned their title as king a thousand times over. Then there are bands like Genocide Of Prescription and Beneath The Massacre who make an absolute mess of things weedily deedling about like full fledged tech-death stereotypes.

Classic Tech Death Album: ‘Nespithe’ By Demilich

Posted by Goshuggist on Feb 5, 2012 in Technical Classic | 8 comments

WHO: The best example of a group disbanded much too soon, Demilich hailed from the eastern region of Finland, although their music leads me to believe this was simply a recorded excerpt from an unfathomable alternate dimension. Despite ‘Nespithe’ being their only full length release, Demilich are hailed as one of the best technical death metal bands in the history of the genre and rightfully so; across eleven tracks, dissonance, atonality and brutality merge to create not only fascinating material, but some of the most wholly original work in all of metal music.

Review: Abiotic – A Universal Plague

Posted by Goshuggist on Feb 1, 2012 in CD Reviews | 0 comments

ABIOTIC
A Universal Plague (2011)

US, Independently Released, Technical Progressive Deathcore

I never believed this was possible.

I might have entertained the notion a couple of times as one of those logical absurdities like sober drunk, promiscuous virgin or peaceful government but even with bands like Rings Of Saturn around, I still refused to believe there could ever be a Deathcore outfit on par with even the simplest of Death Metal. It could be decent, even good at its rarest, but never would Deathcore reach the level of Death Metal, let alone Technical Death Metal.

Review: PsyOpus – Our Puzzling Encounters Considered

Posted by Goshuggist on Jan 28, 2012 in CD Reviews | 3 comments

PSYOPUS
Our Puzzling Encounters Considered (2007)

US, Metal Blade, Hyper Technical/Avant-Garde/Mathcore.

[Before the review proper starts, I'd like to mention that I'm well aware PsyOpus is not strictly speaking 'Death Metal', but I'll be damned if they aren't included on this website among their technical and progressive brethren, especially considering they're quite easily the craziest band in both groups of music. With that nifty disclaimer out of the way;]

Review: Arsis – We Are The Nightmare

Posted by Goshuggist on Jan 26, 2012 in CD Reviews | 1 comment

ARSIS
We Are The Nightmare (2008)

US, Nuclear Blast, Melodic Technical Death Metal

I consider myself a very open minded metalhead. I try not to be prematurely judgmental with bands I’ve never heard, bands that everyone seems to hate, bands that confuse people et. al. but there is a noteworthy percentage of metal I just don’t understand. Black Metal bands described as ‘kvlt’, the majority of Power Metal, Yngwie Malmsteen and a fairly recent strain of technical death metal known as ‘Melodic Technical Death Metal’, represented by bands like Allegaeon, Vale Of Pnath and of course, Arsis. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I stopped listening to melodic death metal almost entirely around sixteen years old. Maybe the mixture of melodic and technical death metal is just fundamentally flawed to begin with. Maybe, as many fans of Arsis will no doubt tell me after reading this, I’m just a tone deaf rube with a weedly deedly fetish. I consider the last two explanations to be the least likely, but whatever the case may be, Arsis and I have never been able to see eye to eye. Not from a lack of trying mind you. I’ve listened to a fair share of their material and the closest I’ve come to appreciating their style is on their first album ‘A Celebration Of Guilt’. It wasn’t mindblowing, but I do consider it good material. It managed to strike a nice balance between the feel of melodic death metal and the intensity of tech-death. A mere two albums later and my sense of engagement is fleeting at best. I don’t fully understand why ‘We Are The Nightmare’ is so difficult to listen to, but the bizarre mixture of boredom and restlessness this release gives me is undeniable.

Review: Gallows For Grace – A Process For The Destruction Of Tomorrow

Posted by Goshuggist on Jan 23, 2012 in CD Reviews | 0 comments

GALLOWS FOR GRACE
A Process For The Destruction Of Tomorrow (2008)

Australia, Skull And Bones, Technical Death Metal

“Death creates nothing.”
“Your death will create an opportunity.”

Part Psycroptic, part Brain Drill, part Dying Fetus and all face melting, Gallows For Grace were quite the young tech-death outfit. ‘A Process For The Destruction Of Tomorrow’ is the perfect combination of sweeps, slams and even bits of outright melody. From the first song outside of the 35 second intro, I knew I was in for a treat. Much like their countrymen Ouroboros, Gallows For Grace knew exactly how to synthesize the elements of death metal they loved into a cohesive and increasingly unstoppable whole. This EP is nowhere near as technical as Entrails Eradicated, Monumental Torment, Viraemia or Hedonistic Exility, but I doubt that was the intention. At their most technical, Gallows For Grace can be compared to a mellowed out Brain Drill via ‘Apocalyptic Feasting’ if they somehow merged with ‘Scepter Of The Ancients’ era Psycroptic and ‘Destroy The Opposition’ era Dying Fetus. Blake Simpson, the extremely talented vocalist alternates between John Gallagher style gurgles, Sean Beasely style barks and Matt Chalky mid pitched and shrieked vocals. No pig squeals, no inhales, no cheap vocal tricks of any kind. The music is that much better because of it.

Review: Mindly Rotten – Proliferation Of Disaster

Posted by Goshuggist on Jan 23, 2012 in CD Reviews | 0 comments

MINDLY ROTTEN
Proliferation Of Disaster (2011)

Colombia, Coyote Records, Technical Brutal Death Metal

“Oh.
My.
Fuck.”

That was the most I could muster after listening to Mindly Rotten’s ‘Proliferation Of Disaster’ in its entirety. I’d known of several Colombian Death Metal outfits before stumbling across Mindly Rotten, (Internal Suffering and Ancient Necropsy being the two most prominent) but no predecessors could give me an indication of what was in store for me with this release. I can now say with the utmost confidence that Mindly Rotten renders Deeds Of Flesh jump roping, hopscotching little girls. They make Cattle Decapitation sound like a bunch of month old kittens. This release has singlehandedly raised the bar for unparalleled brutality, all while writing some of the most technically dazzling and innovative brutal death metal of the past seven years AT LEAST.