Tech Death Thursday: Inhuman
Start making funeral arrangements for your face. This is Tech Death Thursday.
First, the news:
- Nonsense Premonition have released their sophomore album, Metatrilithon, over at Bandcamp. The music is solid, but in this humble wizard/polearm’s opinion, it’s extremely overproduced. If you don’t mind spacebarcore though,
- Genre-benders/generally weird dudes Dysmetria put out a new music video for “Dominus Collapse” from their new EP A Capable Earth. Their also running a contest for a free giveaway for said EP, so if you like what you hear, go check them out on Facebook.
- Rings of Saturn have re-recorded “Seized and Devoured” for some reason. Somehow, it sounds worse than before.
- Cortexiphan have a new album coming up, and it’s sounding mighty tasty. Peep “Son of Sam” and the appropriately-timed “Liquid,” which can both be downloaded for free at their Bandcamp.
I have the good Jack Bauer to thank for sending me these guys a couple weeks ago, or I might have missed them entirely. That would have been a damned shame, as Inhuman (not to be confused with Unhuman) have put forth one of the more unique tech death records of the year. Conquerors of the New World sounds like it wasn’t produced with the intention of impressing anyone with extreme virtuosity and instrumental acrobatics. It’s technical by virtue of the fact that it was written by skilled musicians and not by forcing it to be so. The result is gritty and elemental, and I imagine most everyone will find something to like here.
There are a few elements present on Conquerers that immediately set them apart from the fact, the most obvious being in the bassist’s driving role. The bass is as dominant as Beyond Creation’s, but with a much more vicious attack. Whereas Dominic Lapointe (Beyond Creation) used his presence to craft thoughtful and intricate melodies, Carlos Venegas (Inhuman) sounds like he’s trying to play his instrument to death. Dives and pinch harmonics abound, and he keeps perfect pace with the winding guitar parts while occasionally offering impressive counterpoint riffs, particularly on “Stabbed to Death” and “Feed on Human Flesh.”
The guitar solos, while infrequent, diverge drastically from tech death tropes. There are no sweeps to be had here; instead, we get chaotic flurries drenched in wah that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Anal Vomit song. Though some tech purists would balk at the idea of any sort of grime sullying their pristine sacred cow, it works perfectly here. Nothing on Conquerors feels self-indulgent; the unrestrained solos lend themselves well to the chunky, dissonant riffs that they play over. The production rounds out the package, keeping it sounding dirty without being muddy.
Conquerors of the New World is out now via Satanath Records. Even if tech death isn’t your thing, I urge you to give this one a shot.
Until next time,
