Premiere: Inverted Serenity – “Mechanical Gods”
Death metal with brains and brawn.
“Spear,” you say with an exasperated sigh, “you’re always talking about all this weedly-deedly tech death nonsense. Can’t you just give us something that riffs really hard?” Well today, the answer to that question is, “Yes, but it’s still going to make you use your brain.” That answer comes screaming down in the form of Inverted Serenity, and I’m pleased bring you a new track from As Spectres Wither, the band’s third album. They’ve spent the better part of the last decade carving out a unique niche in the death metal landscape, with with an intelligent and progressive blend of death and thrash. However, it’s hard to apply a simple descriptor to their sound, and the band has this to say about their newest effort:
“For us, this album represents a great leap forward both in terms of production quality and song writing. We were more familiar with the process of writing and recording this time around and that experience went a long way in making this album better sonically and musically. With that said, we don’t really have a consistent formula for writing songs nor do we really limit ourselves to a specific genre or style. This translates into a varied album that pulls a little something from our diverse influences. It’s eclectic but cohesive, at least we hope so!”
That principle of “eclectic but cohesive” applies to the songs on an individual level as well, delivering no shortage of surprises and subverting expectations. “Mechanical Gods” opens up with a mid tempo start-stop riff that sounds like it’s building towards djenty chugs, but it quickly fades into a bass-driven clean section with surprisingly powerful singing. As the distortion kicks back in, the drums get progressively heavier, leading into a jaunty groove and mind-bending tapped dual leads.
The one thing that remains truly constant throughout all of the variations of the song’s main theme is how easy it is to follow. Don’t mistake that for simplicity, though; the music is complex, but it lends itself freely to lighter listening as well. It’s the type of song where you can get just as much out of a dedicated listen as you can from just sitting back and headbanging, equally appealing to casual and cerebral listening. It’s a hell of a ride that gives a tantalizing look at what the rest of the album has to offer.
As Spectres Wither comes out October 6th, available through Inverted Serenity’s Bandcamp. Be sure to follow them on Facebook as well.
