A big up to Heavy Blog Is Heavy, here. They also turned me on to a local tour that these chaps were playing on (twenty minutes from my house, in fact), and the live show was what persuaded me to preorder the album. It's not come yet, but I preordered late, so I was happy to just get the download code on the day. The physical copy should be here in a few days.
So. What do we have here? Eschatologies. The study of the eschaton, the end times, the apocalypse. Musically, there are a few clear influences. There's the melodic shred of The Black Dahlia Murder, the black metal trem-picking of Fleshgod Apocalypse, the synthy, downtuned chug of 'The Discovery' era Born of Osiris, and the tech-death stylings of Abiotic. It's easier to just call it technical death metal, but you get the idea.
What we have are fourteen tracks, ten of which are actual songs, four of which are instrumental segues. The segues are necessary. Remember how Gojira used them on 'The Way of All Flesh' to give you a reprieve from the pummeling? Well, it's kind of the same here. The songs are relentlessly brutal walls of sound, and without the segues, it may get a little much. They add a dose of variation that allows you to regain a breath before the sledgehammer tipped with a chainsaw with scalpels for blades is thrown at your face again.
Everyone here is proficient, although the rhythm section rank as 'terrifying' due to some of those parts. The vocals rip and tear, the guitars are acrobatic, and even the sections that chug in F# or G (I can't remember what I overheard the tuning being. I'm probably way out) don't feel contrived in the slightest. We even get some clean singing on 'Evil Will Prevail', which works really well. The obvious standout tracks for me were 'The Misdirection of God' and 'Cybernetic Lucidity'.
There are a few flaws to be mentioned. The snare is mixed very low, and so is at times nearly inaudible. This could be because we have million mile a minute gravity blasts going on, but considering the rest of the kit is fully audible at all times, it seems like a bit of an oversight. And the synth parts do sound pretty similar for the most part, although this could be a thematic choice.
The flaws are minor quibbles, though, and otherwise this is a very assured debut from a band who bear closer watching over the next few years.
9/10
