Review: Revocation - Teratogenesis

 
Band: Revocation
Album: Teratogenesis
Year: 2012
Country: USA
Genre: Technical Death/Thrash Metal

When I found out Revocation were doing an EP for Scion A/V I had to email them to get a physical copy for review. I had previously given their last album Chaos of Forms a few listens and maybe it was just the state of mind I was in at the time but nothing grabbed me and I never went back to it again. That usually says a lot to me, I don't especially like there being some difficulty in getting through albums, it just doesn't speak well of the music within. But here is a shorter 5 song EP that I figured would be a bit easier for me to consume and it actually was.

Firstly I don't know how to classify the band. Metal Archives does have them as Technical Death/Thrash Metal which I can sort of see. There are definitely a lot of fast paced thrash riffs throughout the album. What sticks out most to me is that the material here has a strong progressive touch to it. Some of the riffing like in the bridge of Spurn the Outstretched Hand or the second half of the last track Bound By Desire showcases this perfectly. As a fan of progressive extreme metal the fact that this album has interesting elements like this made my ears perk up and grabbed my attention. Not only that but they don't get too pretentious or too big for their britches and it is all very melodic and pleasing to the ear.

The drumming is right up my alley and something I liked quite a bit. Phil Dubois-Coyne throws blasts throughout all the songs but most heavily in Bound By Desire specifically. He also plays long strings of double bass but when necessary breaks away from that and does some less standard patterns. Brett Bamberger's bass seems to be just under the guitars in the mix but sometimes it gets the chance to shine like on Spurn the Outstretched Hand and the awesome bass break on Bound By Desire. I have to say David Davidson's vocals are passable and he is better as a guitar player than a vocalist. He has what borders on a metalcore shout/growl and Dan Gargiulo's death growls are really the superior of the two.

I also enjoyed the production on Teratogenesis as well. It does have that modern clean production but sometimes there is a little fuzziness given to the guitar tone that gives it some more life. I have been playing this cd since I received it a few weeks ago and it is probably one of my favorites of the year. Every song is catchy as hell and the progressive passages kind of blew me away and are specifically what drew me in. Since this is free by download or having a physical copy mailed to you I wouldn't miss it!

Score: 9/10
Standout Tracks: Bound By Desire, Spurn the Outstretched Hand

Review: Origin - Entity

Band: Origin
Album: Entity
Year: 2011
Country: USA
Genre: Technical Brutal Death Metal

So technical death metal for the most part isn't really my thing. Very few bands tend to catch my interest, something about the processed, robotic like execution rubs me the wrong way. Yet every once in a while a band or release strikes my fancy. I can happily say Entity is one such album in this sub-genre that does all the right things for me.

Origin produces blazing fast tech death like so many other bands. And still they create memorable riffs and melodies where so many other bands seem to have difficulty doing so. Many of the riffs have a very strong tinge of middle eastern influence to them. Tracks like Saliga and Consequence of Solution especially so. There is also of course noodling like the beginning of Expulsion of Fury, or throughout Committed. Guitarist Paul Ryan masterfully strings together some really creative stuff and his ideas make for a very interesting listen.

The drumming of John Longstreth is pretty out of this world. Listening to this album leads me to believe he may possibly have 4 arms with how all over the place he is. He's blasting, double bassing like a madman, and making great use of hit drum kit. And while the bass doesn't play a giant part in the music of Origin, but it is always there. It comes into the foreground in a few places even, like near the end of Consequence of Solution.

Both Paul Ryan and Mike Flores (bass) share vocal duties. One of them has a higher pitched scream while the other has your normal low death growl. I actually much prefer the highs to the lows and luckily they are what is used more often than not. The production on Entity is sleek and clean. But the guitars maintain their heaviness and the mixing is about perfect. Maybe I would have turned the bass up just a little bit higher.

Entity is easily one of my favorites in the technical death metal sub-genre. Origin have done a tremendous job melding melody, technicality, and aggression into one memorable package. Not only that but the album comes in at 36 minutes making this a very concisely executed release. I give Origin props for successfully bypassing the trappings that most tech death bands so often get caught up in.

Score:9.5/10
Standout Tracks: Saliga, Expulsion of Fury, Evolution of Extinction

Review: Decapitated - Carnival Is Forever

Band: Decapitated
Album: Carnival Is Forever
Country: Poland
Year: 2011
Genre: Technical Death Metal

I can finally say I checked out this album and my feelings? Eh I'm not quite sure what all the hype is (was?) about. Decapitated for those who don't know are a tech death band from Poland. This is their first album I've listened to and I cant say I'm all that impressed.

Now I came into my listening to this album expecting technical death metal. But it seems the band recently changed all but one of its members out for various reasons and perhaps it was that which caused the shift in sound but this isn't proper tech death. In fact the band that comes to mind is a more technically inclined Gojira. I just don't get the feeling that there is enough death metal in this album to be considered technical death metal. Its like some bastardized version with elements of groove metal or something.

Another thing that throws me off is Rafal Piotrowski and his style of vocals. He strays further into hardcore like shouts than anything resembling death growls. He sounds at times a lot like Phil Anselmo from Pantera/Down maybe just a little more extreme. I mean it doesn't sound too bad but when you expect one thing and get something that is completely different it kind of leaves you scratching your head.

The guitar work is still impressive, tracks like 404 and The Knife come to mind though they are all still pretty technical and show skill. But its actually the stranger songs like Carnival Is Forever and Silence which caught my ear. These two are less by the book as opposed to the rest of the album and seem to be more about atmosphere and experimenting which makes them interesting listens. Carnival Is Forever is the longest track at almost 9 minutes and goes from soft, quiet, and atmospheric to heavy guitar driven and generally pissed off sounding. Silence is an instrumental track and is far more experimental and almost melancholy almost as if it were written as a piece for a movie. Funnily enough its pretty calming, the polar opposite of the rest of Carnival Is Forever. I'd also have to throw A View From A Hole in with these two as well though it is a little more in line with the technical death/groove of the other tracks.

Along with the impressive and at times catchy noodling is the nice drumming. Karem Lechner is fun to listen to on this album and probably one of the strongest members of the band. I mean yeah some of the guitar parts and riffs are interesting but as a whole the drumming stands out more so than the vocal delivery, and bass/guitar playing.

Carnival Is Forever isn't a bad album, but its not good either. It seems to be caught in that purgatory in between good and bad, the kind of albums that are seldom remembered for being famous or infamous. It is far easier to listen to than most technical death metal though and could be a gate way album for those who may be inclined to get into tech death but are frightened off by the complexity.

Score: 5/10
Standout Tracks: Silence, Carnival Is Forever

Review: Obscura - Omnivium

Band: Obscura
Album: Omnivium
Year: 2011
Genre: Technical/Progressive Death Metal

I had heard only a handful of songs by Obscura before deciding to buy Omnivium. I was pulled in by how much the band sounded like some of my favorite American death metal bands of the early 90s, specifically Cynic and Death. In Omnivium they kept only elements of their previous sound and its safe to say I did not get what I was expecting.

The bass while still pretty audible plays much less of a role than on say Cosmogenesis. This kind of bummed me out because it was in my eyes a pivotal part of Obscura’s sound that I really liked. It’s still there though and you still can here it much more than usual by comparison to other bands. Listen to Septuagint and you can pick it out pretty easily.

Septuagint is actually a really cool song to start the album with too. There is a little acoustic intro then the song rockets away for the next 7 minutes. There are tons of harmonized leads here which draw comparison to other bands like Nueraxis and Quo Vadis who play a technical form of melodic death metal.

The drumming is really great but it’s the tone of the snare that seems to really mar the album for me. It sounds like Hannes Grossmann is hitting a piece of plastic. To me it sounds so weak and in no way at all organic and hardly like a drum at all. This is really a shame because Hannes’ drumming on Omnivium is great. He has hit that mark between being technical but not so overly technical that his drumming seems to be going everywhere and nowhere at once. Like say the drumming on the Arsis album We Are The Nightmare, jeeze.

There are still a lot of riffs on this album and my favorites have to be on Ocean Gateways, Septuagint, and Celestial Spheres. Most of Ocean Gateways is a slower meandering affair with little flares of speed at certain times while Septuagint is all about speed and Celestial Spheres finds a medium between the two. And the instrumental A Transcendental Serenade is a really fun listen where the band sort of lets loose.

Vocally there are a few different variations here. There is a deep death growl, a higher pitch scream. And a vocoder! This obviously draws similarity to Cynic’s Focus but I have to say the way it is done here is more subtle than Paul did on Focus. Both the more extreme vocals are ok and nothing out of the ordinary for the genre but the use of the vocoder adds a little something for those of us who enjoyed Focus but felt it was used a bit too much.

So Obscura in my eyes are successful in my eyes with Omnivium. They wear their influences a bit less on their sleeves but you can still tell where they are coming from and they have sort of given it more spin of their own so they are less of a clone. The vocals are ok and the vocoder is a nice touch as well. The songs are easy to enjoy to the ears of someone not really attuned to technical death metal which makes this a winner.

Score: 8/10
Standout Track: Ocean Gateways, Celestial Spheres, Septuagint

What I've Been Listening To Lately

Sooooo i've been on a post-rock/metal trip lately and to mix it up a little a bit of tech death in there as well.I have to give credit where credit is due, my friend Muz over at Of Sound Mind whom ive known for a while has been keeping me busy with post-rock by introducing me to bands like Mogwai, Ef, and Explosions In the Sky.

In the post-metal area i'm really enjoying the band And So I Watch You From Afar. They seem like a blend of post-rock and post-metal and their album Gangs is incredible. Its very similiar to modern Pelican I think.

Technical Death Metal is something I have a little trouble getting into because for the most part I feel it lacks any soul/heart. Being technical for the sake of being technical just does nothing for me. Abysmal Dawn's newest album Leveling The Plane of Existance is a good listen and pretty catchy. I know the main complaint i've heard is that they are a Morbid Angel rip off and if so I gotta check out Morbid Angel's newer stuff!

Obscura is the other band i've been listening to a bit. Their album Omnivium was released not too long ago and while I miss the stronger sound of the bass on this album its all good. If you havent heard them think of a mix between Death, Cynic, and some good ole Death Metal. My biggest complaint is the snare drum sounds like the drummer is hitting on a piece of plastic and it is terrible!

Abysmal Dawn - In Service of Time


And So I Watch You From Afar - 7 Billion People All Alive At Once