The good thing that this “ISIS” EP is completely free for download on Recipient13 official website: LINK

Australia, Nuclear Blast, Technical Death Metal

What I learned today: I should be listening to a lot more Psycroptic

When I was a kid I loved spinning in circles until I felt like I was going to vomit. The Inherited Repression reminds me of this; truly dizzying, it swirls and surges, leaps and lurches. However, this ride has a couple nagging flaws that keep it from spinning kids til they puke – namely, too much focus on the midrange.

Psycroptic’s fifth slithers like a viper made of razorwire. Its got Anata-esque hanging discordance, fluid grooves, captivating build-ups, and authentic atmosphere (!). The Haley brothers bring mind-blowing guitar and drum calculus in songs like “From Scribes to Ashes” but the clean guitars at the beginnings of “Deprivation” allow a rest. However, some of the simpler riffing slows the album down – the opposite of the “mandatory headbanging NOW!” parts of Revocation. The biggest problem is the monotonously midranged rough cop/tough cop vocals that have completely dropped both lows and highs.

The Inherited Repression spins faster than a top (in zero gravity) and cuts like Tasmanian steel, but it lacks the bowel-destroying sledgehammer of technical DEATH. This is grade A mathmetal, but, for me, I personally feel more at home in the crypts than the amusement park.

7/10 – Witness to the Void

Eager to say: die!

Either You love it or hate – it’s Your choice but I assume You can’t look indifferently on “Inherited Repression”. This is a sick combo of thrashy driven, mad rhythms and tremolo playing. This is one hell of a trip into madman brain because You have the impression that the melody stands still but it really brandishes his tentacles like a crazy bitch. I love how they managed to create fluid waterfall of riffs. I also see very much of Meshuggah atmosphere in here. Strictly minimalistic and making trance melodies come true. European-alike death is well served in here. Like a cold breeze wind, Psycroptic achieved fresh feeling and groovy style, although I can’t distinguish the songs one from another at this moment.

The weakest part may be the vocals – I agree but the more I listen to “Inherited…” the more I’am convinced they suits here. In other words – they don’t bother me much. They’re flat and washed out from emotions but hey – Psycroptic never done what I wanted to, hehe. One is certain – I can go through this 41 minutes one time after another and I still want more. They’re no exaggerated cult band for me so I have free mind to love this release.

9/10 – Rimmön

My Chalky, My Chalky, My Kingdom For A Chalky.

Psycroptic holds a special place in my Death Metal journey. ‘Scepter Of The Ancients’ is an album that I’ve continually revisited. Chalky being gone definitely took some getting used to but Peppiatt always struck me as decent. I first listened to ‘Inherited Repression’ in one sitting. What I anticipated as the next bold step in Psycroptic’s journey ended up being puzzling. The amazing instrumental work that I count on from Psycroptic hasn’t diminished. Peppiatt certainly has though. There are no growls or shrieks here, only hardcore barking.

My opinion on these vocals has ranged from ‘Maybe I’m just crazy, but these are completely out of place’ to more vitriolic sentiments like ‘Peppiatt has RUINED Psycroptic!’ The truth is far less dramatic. Peppiatt’s vocals are completely out of place, but he can never ruin Psycroptic. In fact, if Chalky were still the vocal virtuoso behind the mic, I think this could have been Psycroptic’s best. As it stands, ‘Inherited Repression’ is a noble experiment. It’s splendid musically but falls extremely short vocally. As a hypothetical way forward, it would be amazing to see Tarren Whitfield fronting both Psycroptic *and* Entrails Eradicated. While I’m dreaming, let’s see something new from Mephistopheles Chalky.

6.5/10 – Goshuggist

Better than their previous releases, but a bit generic

Ah, Psycroptic. Long time, no see. Already I see they’ve improved tenfold since albums like Sceptre of the Ancients, and all the better for it. Where I live, I’m stuck with deathcore as the only local music genre anyone knows, so listening to this is a well-deserved break from the “djent” sound I heard all too frequently.

The first song, Carriers of the Plague, immediately sets a high bar for the album to follow, the tones are perfect, and the drum volumes are incredible. The cymbals collide with the snare and toms to create a wall of slightly decipherable virtuosity, and the double bass pedal work is fast as anything, but luckily not too loud, leaving the guitar work audible, much like Dying Fetus’ War of Attrition.

I have to praise their drummer on this album, the blasts are consistent in volume and velocity, and though there isn’t as much innovation or variation throughout the album, the drums do what they need to do, and create an inane sense of brutality. The vocals are a bit cookie-cutter to be truthful, and sometimes delve into metalcore territory, but nonetheless good. The strings as a whole reek of old school Decapitated, and together the album shows that the band don’t want to slow down, EVER.

9/10 – InexorableRotting

AVERAGE RATING: 7.9/10

Apocalyptic Feasting (2008)

U.S.A, Metal Blade Records, Technical Death Metal

Most people will pass off Brain Drill as “technical wankery”, i.e. they have technicality and flaunt it tremendously. I will admit that they are somewhat right, but I would put it more in the sense that they took the term “technical death metal” literally, like 4 death metal musicians with Asperger’s. And I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing; It’s never been attempted to the extent that they’ve attempted it, nor pulled off as flawlessly.

I first discovered Brain Drill through recommendations from a friend, who also used the term “technical wankery”. At first, I agreed. since the first song I heard was “Sadistic Abductive” (Ironically the last song on the album), which has an abrupt stop 10 seconds in so that Jeff Hughell can play a quick 8-finger tapping arpeggio on his signature 7 string bass. However, having listened more closely, I discovered that everything was actually rather melodic, structured, and put together, shall I say, beautifully? It’s almost like they want the “weaklings” who can’t comprehend the speed and precision to leave, so that those who can recognise the true virtuosity can do so in peace (well, except for the sweeps and gravity blasts embedded in your mind long after the album ends!).

The drums are by “Lord” Marco Pitruzzella, a renowned tech-death drummer who’s worked with Vornagar and Anomalous to name a couple. They are essentially not much more than straight blast beats reminiscent of olden-day Cannibal Corpse, excessively fast double bass reminiscient of Fleshgod Apocalypse’s “Mafia” EP, and gravity blasts reminiscient of a Kalashnikov. They don’t show a great deal of variation, or of the talent I know Pitruzzella is capable of, but they do what they were there to do, even if their job is to power through the album and deter posers.

The guitars are performed by one man, to those who would believe it, and that man also wrote the lyrics to 6 of the 10 songs, and the music to 9 of them. His name is Dylan Ruskin, and he’s the man behind the sweeps that listeners either love or despise. The guitar style is almost all lead, mostly sweeps or tremolo shredding. There’s the occasional chunky riff, where the whole band builds up an awesome groove, like the intro to “The Parasites”, or the breakdown of “Swine Slaughter”. Sadly, these don’t last long enough to get a good headbang out, which is where most of the 12% was dropped.

The bass essentially follows the guitar, except it’s an octave lower, and the vocals seem a bit too generic, especially the lows. What I look for in a vocalist is the ability the sound inhuman, like you can’t actually believe it’s a person, like Lord Worm on Cryptopsy’s first 2 releases (Or the majority of the Slam Death, Grind and Black Metal scenes). I feel that the highs on this album achieve this, but the lows fall short of my expectations.

Overall, I feel this release won’t appeal to near everyone, even those with a passion for tech-death or overexaggerated brutality, but to some, it will be worthy of worship. I personally would recommend this album, but make sure you turn the speakers lower first, the music feels at first like a dentist drill jammed into your ear canal.

Rating: 8/10
Author: InexorableRotting

WHEN:  On February 8th, 1993, this cacophonous inter-dimensional symphony was unleashed upon the world from Necropolis Records. In 1996, it was reissued in Europe by Repulse Records. 2003 saw it’s rerelease by Century Media Records. However, the only remastered edition approved of by the band came in 2009 from Xtreem Music on both CD and Vinyl.

WHERE: Depending on whether you think of Demilich as human beings, the album was either recorded in Kuopio, Finland or on The Planet That Once Used To Absorb Flesh In Order To Achieve Divinity and Immortality (Within) The Chamber of Whispering Eyes on The Putrefying Road in the Nineteenth Extremity by The Sixteenth Six-Tooth Son of Fourteen Four-Regional Dimensions (Still Unnamed) When the Sun Drank the Weight of Water.

WHY IT’S A CLASSIC: Simply put, there has never and will never be another album in all of music like Demilich’s ‘Nespithe’. From Aki Hytönen and Ville Koistinen’s mastery of stringed discord to Mikko Virnes’ astounding rhythmic variation on drums, no musical errors can or will be found here. As for Antti Boman’s legendary vocals, the late great Bill Hicks provides the greatest approximation;

“You ARE Satan…don’t look any further.”

Without pitch shifting or indeed effects of any kind, Boman has recorded the lowest, most intense and arguably greatest Death Growls of all time. Coupled with his band mate’s brilliantly inharmonious instrumental work, ‘Nespithe’ took form as not only the perfect otherwordly Death Metal album, but also as one of the Top Five LP’s in all of Death Metal.

HOW: Even as a die hard fan of this band, I’m not entirely sure how this release managed to accomplish what it has. I can only attribute its success to the unbelievable expertise of every member. This is an album that under entirely normal circumstances would have been lost forever, if not for the devotion of Demilich’s fanbase and a musical genius that transcends obscurity, belittlement and time itself. Demilich may be gone forever, but what they’ve given the metal world can never be pushed aside. In only one release, Demilich bested established classics, fellow virtuosos and generations of Death Metal since. Hold your heads high gentlemen; you are legends.

You can find all of Demilich’s material in a downloadable format here on their official website: http://www.anentity.com/demilich/

This site also includes links to merchandise, CDs, vinyl records et. al. 

Italy, Unique Leader Records, Technical Brutal Death Metal

I discovered Hour of Penance right after they released this album, and I have to say, I’m damn impressed. I’ve always thought that satanists/anti-christians had the best metal, and this has most definately confirmed this. It’s a relentless onslaught which can’t be stopped.

The first song on the album is called “Paradogma”, and it starts the album of with an atmoshperic orchestral string section, that slowly gets louder and louder, and then… BAM! Everything kicks off at Mach 7, before an ear-shattering growl destroys everything. The song carries on for another few minutes, and after this, the next few songs follow suit.

“Malevolence of the Righteous” is a bit slower, but still just as heavy an attack on everything within a 2 foot radius of the speaker system the album’s playing through. After that, you’ll have to brace yourselves for yet more ungodly speed and brutality.

I have to praise the precision at this point, everything is played to the highest standard, and produced and mixed flawlessly. The guitarists (one of which is also the vocalist) play catchy riffs with an unbeatable tone; not so much low distortion as a high treble, volume-goes-to-11 sort of tone. The solos cut through everything at the speed of light. The drums are also worth praise, the drummer has some serious talent, and it shows on this release. It sounds more like he’s shooting a machine gun while he plays, than actual drumming. The bass pounds along seperately, filling the low frequencies with perfection.

I only have 3 problems with this otherwise incredible release:

1. The guitar riffs and solos sound too similar, it sometimes feels like listening to the same song over and over.
2. The vocals also sound too similar, and too much like every other death metal vocalist at the moment. Given, he has his moments of pure awesomeness, and those moments come often, but I still feel more could be done.
3. The final track, “Apeothosis” starts with a fade-in breakdown (one of the one note chug-a-lug sort of ones) which pretty much ruins everything. I still can’t let that get in the way of my rating too much, though. All in all though, I’d HIGHLY recommend this album to any death metalhead, even with just the slightest interest in technical death metal.

Rating: 9/10
Author: InexorableRotting

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.

That’s when Abiotic completely destroyed what I had taken for granted. As soon as I put on ‘Vermosapien’, I knew what I was listening to was definitely Deathcore, but it was unlike any expression of the genre I’ve yet seen. The vocals were powerful, the music displayed the perfect mixture of technicality and groove and the oft maligned breakdowns went so far beyond the commonly understood ‘chugga chugga chugga’ garbage that it felt insulting to think of them as such. All I could do when the song concluded was to play it again, if only to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating. Not only did it get better the second time through, but the logical absurdity I had been scoffing at all this time was right in front of me. This wasn’t the ‘fun every once in a while’ kind of Deathcore that Veil Of Maya and Circle Of Contempt specialize in nor was it the ‘gateway drug to Death Metal’ type of Deathcore that Rings Of Saturn plays. Abiotic had finally achieved what Despised Icon and several key others have tried, but failed; ‘A Universal Plague’ is the one Deathcore release that stands tall with actual Death Metal. Hell must be freezing this time of year.

Despite the utter disbelief I initially felt, it soon became clear why Abiotic had successfully completed the impossible; unlike all of the other Deathcore outfits I can think of, the level of talent Abiotic possesses is equivalent to that of a technical death metal band. The catch of course is that this isn’t technical death metal, but the same level of skill and dedication was used. Either that or Abiotic came here from a bizarro world where Deathcore is always insanely brutal, musically complex and ridiculously addictive. In either case, across seven tracks, Abiotic have singlehandedly rendered every other Deathcore band irrelevant and a detriment to their own genre. These guys are the closest thing Deathcore has ever had to a miracle, so they’d better fucking acknowledge it.

To continue what surely sounds like I’ve finally lost my goddamn mind, this band has no weak link. Every member, from the punishing vocalist Ray Jimenez to the otherwordly bassist Alex Vasquez is absolutely essential. Unlike just about every other so called ‘vocalist’ in Deathcore, Ray Jimenez is a monster. His earth shattering lows perfectly alternate with pulse pounding highs for a vocal beating you won’t soon forget. Likewise, guitarists Matt Mendez and Johnathan Matos provide a magnificent balance of virtuosity and groove, making headbanging an inevitability. Drummer Andres Hurtado is not only extremely gifted, he also manages to bring every other element of the music together while not overpowering them; the way only Grade A drummers can. Last, but certainly not least, Alex Vasquez lays down some of the best bass work I’ve heard from a modern outfit. In tandem with his phenomenal band mates, Vasquez will ensure that your mind is blown with the utmost mastery.

The only fault in this release is certain aspects of the production quality. Even then, for an independently released EP this sounds damn good. The biggest wish I have for this band is to simply acquire the recognition they deserve. Forget every skinny jean wearing bree bree dickhole calling themselves ‘deathcore’. Abiotic makes every single one of them wet their sister’s pants and cry all the way to mommy’s minivan. When these talented Floridians are finally signed to a record label, they deserve to be associated with all sorts of classic Death Metal. They’ve more than earned it.

This review may kill whatever sort of underground cred I had but I couldn’t care less. If praising Abiotic makes me a ‘poser’, then so be it. I’d rather get shitty looks from ignorant elitists than lie about the quality of a band simply because they happen to be Deathcore. This is some of the finest modern metal I could have asked for, the only genuinely awesome Deathcore band and a fantastic debut. Don’t miss this release.

Rating: 9.5/10
Author: Goshuggist

Scrambled Defuncts – Hackled In Gore (2005)
Russia, Monsters Corp., Brutal Technical Death Metal

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;]

Jesus tap dancing, beer drinking, whore slapping Christ.

Without an ounce of hyperbole, I can definitively call PsyOpus’s ‘Our Puzzling Encounters Considered’ (along with everything else they’ve ever recorded) the most insane, disturbing and mindbogglingly technical metal I’ve ever heard…

…and I’m addicted to every nanosecond of it.

This band would in all likelihood make John Zorn shit himself in terror. In fact, the closest approximation I can give of their sound is if Naked City ate Dillinger Escape Plan, exploded into a fleshy mess and reassembled itself as an omniscient, omnipresent technical metal presence.  Beyond the initial shock of their music (equivalent to being hit head on by a Mack Truck full of savanna elephants) the virtuosity on display here is unparalleled. Every single note, to the absolute umpteenth degree, has been sequenced, structured and played with such precision that the notions of order and chaos are rendered meaningless. While undoubtedly the pinnacle of musical insanity, there is an undeniable cohesion behind everything. The inner workings of this band are more than enough to not only snap anyone’s mind in half, but to continue snapping each half into halves infinitely.

I describe several of my favorite bands as inhuman, but humanity is not a factor in the PsyOpus equation. Regardless of whether this band is comprised of aliens, androids or they simply made a deal with Satan (this album has a running time of 66:06. Coincidence? I think not) NOTHING on this album is possible for 99.9% of humanity to recreate. Christopher Arp cannot be thought of in relation to other metal guitarists. The only possible explanation is that he is in fact a resurrected immortalized Niccolò Paganini, who found his way to Rochester, New York and assembled a crew of visiting aliens to record mind bending, time warping metal music with. Nothing else accounts for how this release both completes and destroys technical music simultaneously.

This review is easily one of the most difficult I’ve ever written. Not because the material is awful or I don’t want to review it, but because expressing in words the sensation of listening to PsyOpus is almost impossible. I’ve tried in the last several paragraphs to convey why this band is world changing, but even my trademark comparisons and humor have been inadequate. However unorthodox this may seem, I’d like everyone reading this right now to listen;

After you’ve picked up whatever remnants of your jaw and brain you can salvage, buy this album as well as ‘Ideas Of Reference’ and ‘Odd Senses’ immediately. I’m dead serious. No amount of words that I could possibly write substitute actually listening to and owning all of PsyOpus’ work. If you have errands to run, add finding these CD’s to your list and don’t come back until you own each one. If you’re stuck at home, use the internet while you still can to buy every album as well as a shirt. If you played ‘Insects’ and couldn’t stand it, take some time and listen to it again. I guarantee that even though it is difficult to appreciate and requires an incredibly refined palette, I’m sure it will grow on you. Whatever you do, do NOT dismiss this band. Even if they never record another album again (which would be tragic) you can pride yourself on owning every part of this legendary outfit’s unbeatable work.

Rating: 10/10

Author: Goshuggist

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.

For some time now, I’ve used what I call the ’35 second rule’ with Arsis. ‘We Are The Nightmare’ actually helped me develop it. For the first 35 seconds of any given song on this album, my support ranges from full appreciation (0:00 – 0:16 of ‘Servants To The Night’) to mild contentment (0:17 – 0:35 of ‘Servants To The Night) to flat out groaning. (The rest of ‘Servants To The Night’) To this day, I have been unable to pinpoint the exact reason why Arsis’ latest material functions according to such a rule. The best hypothesis I have is a break down in songwriting. To use ‘Servants To The Night’ as my example yet again, the first sixteen seconds are sheer headbanging bliss. The music evokes a spiral into madness. Just as soon as the effect is almost complete however, the tone changes radically. The proceeding section is decent, but it nowhere near captures the feeling of the intro. As soon as 35 seconds have passed, the only feeling left is one of disappointment. As musically gifted as the members of Arsis are, the songwriting is much too jarring to maintain a consistent sensation. The work they’ve put into these songs has been squandered by inconsistency. In a hyper technical outfit like Viraemia or Brain Drill, formal consistency is the antagonist of their musical intentions. In a band like Arsis or Allegaeon however, the exact opposite is true. The feeling and tone of the music need to remain consistent in order to showcase the best they can do. Their songs can’t start out dark and sinister only to be hampered by a passage with no relation to the previous one.

To be clear, I don’t think Arsis is a terrible band by any means. I do think that both ‘We Are The Nightmare’ and their latest album ‘Starve For The Devil’ are COLOSSAL missed opportunities however. They both succumb to the fatal flaw of melodic technical death metal; variation coming at the expense of sensation. Melodic Death Metal is capable of creating sensations that the more technical side of death metal could aid in expressing fully and without the cliche bands like Children Of Bodom specialize in. Like any mixture, there can’t be too much of one element so as to overpower the other and render the experiment useless. If a band is too far melodic, the technicality is rendered as superfluous as lipstick on a warthog. If the technicality is overbearing, the melody serves as the ultimate clash making what should be both beautiful and intense jumbled and uninteresting. Arsis is the latter rather than the former. They’ve already demonstrated an ability to balance both elements on ‘A Celebration Of Guilt’, so the failure of ‘We Are The Nightmare’ to make progress is baffling. There are genuinely good ideas here ruined by the neglect of consistency. ‘Starve For The Devil’ makes even further strides in the wrong direction, leading me to think that Arsis have utterly forgotten what made their music work in the first place.

In conclusion, if someone were to edit all of the first 35 seconds across ‘We Are The Nightmare’ into one song, I’d listen to it for experimentation’s sake. As it currently exists, I cannot recommend it. For those of you curious about Arsis, seek out ‘A Celebration Of Guilt’ and remain in a placid isle of ignorance about the rest of their work.

Now, before all of the established Arsis fans grab pliers and blowtorches, consider this; there was in fact a band that fully realized the ideal of Arsis and several other noteworthy bands they entirely surpassed in complete originality. They were both blisteringly technical and wonderfully melodic/progressive. Their only full length release ‘Elvenefris’ is available online from The Czech Republic. I am of course referring to Lykathea Aflame. While not exactly melodic technical death metal, Lykathea Aflame is singlehandedly responsible for rendering almost every melodic death metal release irrelevant. Between the progressive fusion of Death Metal and Egyptian Music, the ‘None So Vile’ era technicality and the breathtakingly beautiful melody, I’d be willing to wager that ’Elvenefris’ is more than capable of shifting your perception of what melody and progressive elements should be in Death Metal. Perhaps it would also make you reconsider getting medieval on my ass.

Rating: 5/10
Author: Goshuggist