Tech Death Thursday: Corpse Garden
Walk with me in the garden. This is Tech Death Thursday.
But first, check out these newsly bits:
- Yes, it’s a Toilet Tuesday repost, but Abhorrent Decmiation has a new album out tomorrow and it’s got me frothing at the loins. Check it out here.
- Prog-death outfit/seekers of spiritual enlightenment Inverted Serenity have a new album coming on October 9th. Listen to “Breath of Life” and “Elemental Abyss” at their Bandcamp.
- Techgrind is apparently a thing, and I guess Vaulting do it pretty well. Check out “Deine Hässlichkeit” and hang onto your butts.
- This week on bands named by mashing two unrelated words together: Hedonistic Exility. I’m not sure how one can be excessive in their smallness, but at least “Overshadowed” brings us some prime weedlies.
- Killitorous has a guitar playthrough video of a new song. Hope you’re ready for a hoedown.
Poor Jack Bauer. I stole his thunder back in May when I covered Corpse Garden on Toilet Tuesday, and here I’m about to do it again on the column that used to be his. I guess that’s what you get for NOT STAYING TECH! SHAME HIM!
…*ahem* Uh, anyway, Corpse Garden. I feel like Entheogen has been a shamefully overlooked album amidst the vast seas of new music this year, and it’s one of my favorites. It’s one of those albums that’s hard to pigeonhole into a specific genre; it’s too refined to sound like OSDM, too chaotic for melodeath, and not noodly enough to be pure tech death. This is in no way a bad thing, though; they certainly stand out from the rest. From the guitar tone to that distinctive fretless bass sound to the flow of the songs, Corpse Garden are their own entity.
The lyrics seem to follow the story of a man seeking power through occult knowledge, and the music carries this theme forward as much as the words themselves. Guitars spiral and wind through alien passages, occasionally slowing down for punishing headbanging riffs and ghostly static/noise segments. The bassist takes full advantage of his instrument, incorporating slides and quarter-steps in ways that couldn’t be achieved on a standard bass. This eldritch sound is purveyed through the melodies themselves, with songs often starting off in a more straightforward manner and gradually getting stranger. “Portal to the Oneiric” is one of the best examples of this evolution, opening with an absolutely crushing groove and finishing in a haunting mist of thick guitar noise. Some songs veer more towards one extreme or the other, but they’re all damned brilliant.
If you like what you heard, then show these guys some love on their Facebook page. Entheogen is available digitally from the band themselves, on CD through Sevared and Satanath, and will be on cassette through Third Eye Temple and Godz of War.
That’s all for this week. Until next time,
