Premiere: The Scalar Process – “Incessant Continuum”
Hope you’ve brushed up on your linear algebra.
It boggles the mind knowing that The Flesh Prevails came out over a decade ago- 2014, the same year as the founding of this venerable flaming porcelain chalice. Its influence on the realm of tech death is hard to overstate, helping to spawn no small number of similarly atmospheric acts and even provoking some bands to completely change their sound. Whether by proxy or direct inspiration, one of the acts it helped usher in was The Scalar Process, whose debut album I enjoyed quite a bit and I still maintain is a great entry point into the world of technical death metal. Now, half a decade later, they are returning with Agnomysticism, and we’re bringing you a new track from it today.
Described by the band as the most atmospheric song on the album, “Incessant Continuum” displays just about every quality I liked on the first album as well as a significant refinement in songwriting. One of the defining aspects of Coagulative Matter was the band’s willingness to let their songs breathe, naturally building around a handful of ideas and maintaining clear direction in their instrumentals. Their focus is even stronger now, as you’ll hear the song’s dreamy melody grow organically outwards into each riff along its musical root. While you won’t hear the aggressive, evil-sounding parts from the debut, the composition here is much more robust without sacrificing any of the readability I praised back then. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been listening to this kind of thing for ages now, but it’s honestly incredible how these guys can make something as intricate as this without it being overwhelming. Hone in on the drums for a minute and you’ll really see what I mean; I’m impressed with how intense of a beat he can put out while remaining so comfortably in the pocket and not dominating the song.
In any case, I’ve yapped about this enough. If you find yourself pining for a new Virvum album or are looking for something that sounds like Dreamless-era Fallujah with just a dash of The Zenith Passage, then do yourself a favor and put this in your ears:
Agnomysticism releases on May 29th via Transcending Obscurity.
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