Tech Death Thursday!
It’s time for another adventure to the wonderful world of Technical Death Metal. Say goodbye to your face.
Where to start? Alterbeast sounds like a power metal band name, but fret not, my fellow tech heads, for these Californians are so much more than that. I love everything about this band, and every time they come on I get a little bit happier and a lot bit moshier. Check out “Flesh Bound Text”:
I feel like the violin is trying to lure the listener into a false sense of security before the song erupts into a menacing stampede of double bass and blast beats. It’s reminiscent of The Black Dahlia Murder but, in my opinion, sounds much better. Alterbeast’s cocktail of face-melting sound waves is insanely technical, but they don’t forget to inject a little melody into the maelstrom. Their debut album “Immortal” came out earlier this year on Unique Leader Records and is a must have for any fan of this kind of music. Keep an eye on these guys; they’re gonna be big.
Weedling on, we have Inanimate Existence out of Santa Cruz, California. These guys make what I can only describe as beautiful tech-death. I know some of you are all like “Jack, what the heck? have you been spending too much time in the rift? Beautiful and death metal don’t belong in the same sentence!” This is when I’m all like “Archs… uh… YOU’RE WRONG!” Take “The Rune of Destruction” as an example:
This band just bleeds talent. The instrumentation is precise and perfectly executed.They even throw in a curve ball in the form of those haunting female vocals. It’s not something that you’d expect to make an appearance in a tech death song, but it works really well, adding even more life to what is already a ridiculously vibrant song. It’s harder for me to describe how I feel about this band than most because I tend to get lost in their songs. They take me on a journey to an ambient realm that I never even knew existed [It doesn’t. — MSD]. There’s something about it that relaxes me and makes me want to think about the meaning of life, or other useless shit that I wouldn’t normally think about. Anyway, their album Never-Ending Cycle of Atonement dropped earlier this year on Unique Leader. They also released another album titled Liberation Through Hearing back in 2012. I highly recommend both.
Now for something a little less on the weedily deedily side and a little more on the rip your head off, put it on backwards and continue moshing side of the tech death spectrum. Man Must Die is a badass group from Glasgow, Scotland who specialize in impeccable drumming, awesome riffs, pissed off vocals, and lyrics that are a lot more meaningful than your typical tech death fare. Bask in the brutality of “Antisocial Network” before we continue:
This song is menacing. I imagine it’s similar to what was going on in the heads of Miami Heat fans during the NBA finals. There are no fancy solos or intricate melodies here, and there don’t need to be. Those drums could hold the song all on their own. Their most recent album, Peace Was Never an Option, came out last year on Lifeforce records. Be sure to check out their whole catalog because it’s all really good.
Finally, Ghostflusher has returned with yet another guest submission:
I have heard a lot of bands in my time on this planet. When it comes to music scenes, some states have a whole host of solid bands to go watch locally, like Colorado with Allegaeon, Vale of Pnath, and Cephalic Carnage. There’s just something unique about the quality of music that comes from certain local scenes, like Tennessee’s Enfold Darkness, Inferi, and Diskreet. Among their ranks is a new band called Animality with some sick grooves that are sure to make a statement for themselves in their new self-titled EP. It’s the song “Anthrodisfigurement” that stands out as the biggest groove-fest of the all, something which will sure leave fans of Soreption, The Zenith Passage, and Diskreet with their jaws on the floor and moshing around their desks. Not a single riff that falls flat, and each new one builds upon the previous. It makes me wish that we still had Diskreet around so they could do a co-headlining tour and groove everyone’s faces off on this side of the Atlantic.
That’s it for today. Until next time,
Stay Tech Listen to Power Metal and remember… lolbuttz.
