{"id":47837,"date":"2016-05-05T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T14:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=47837"},"modified":"2016-05-05T08:51:49","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T13:51:49","slug":"tech-death-thursday-first-fragment-dasein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/tech-death-thursday-first-fragment-dasein\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Death Thursday: First Fragment &#8211; <i>Dasein<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>After six long years, the Canadian neoclassical shredders are back with their first full album! Make sure your face&#8217;s last will and testament is up to date, because it&#8217;s about to get melted straight off.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Some news to warm you up first:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Defeated Sanity<\/strong> have a new song from the\u00a0<em>Dharmata<\/em> side of their upcoming self-split, and it fucking destroys. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mepBZqjhPHw\" target=\"_blank\">At One With Wrath<\/a>&#8221; sounds like a long-lost artifact of early 90&#8217;s progressive death metal in the absolute best way. Don&#8217;t skip it.<\/li>\n<li>Relative newcomers\u00a0<strong>Onomasy<\/strong> have released &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KSkdBym_Swg\" target=\"_blank\">The Memory of the Reaper<\/a>,&#8221; a new song from their upcoming album,\u00a0<em>Ashes and Dust<\/em>. It&#8217;s nothing particularly groundbreaking, but it&#8217;s a solid track nonetheless. Look for\u00a0<em>Ashes and Dust<\/em> on May 20th.<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;m not the only one who has been impatiently waiting for word of a new\u00a0<strong>Origin<\/strong> album. While there&#8217;s still nothing on the horizon, you can sate that hunger for awhile with <a href=\"https:\/\/themalicelegions.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">this new\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/themalicelegions.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">EP<\/a> from\u00a0<strong>The Malice<\/strong>, which bears more than passing resemblance to the former. It&#8217;s not quite as off-the-rails as Origin, but it&#8217;s very much in the same vein.<\/li>\n<li>On the complete opposite end of the tech spectrum (&#8220;techtrum&#8221; for short),\u00a0<strong>Apotheon<\/strong>\u00a0released a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apotheon.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">new EP<\/a>\u00a0that sounds a bit like what a band like\u00a0<strong>Periphery<\/strong> or\u00a0<strong>Intervals<\/strong> would sound like as a tech death band. Also, it has parts that sound like they&#8217;re straight out of a Mega Man X game, which I&#8217;m more than okay with.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Orphalis<\/strong> have a new album on the way, and their description has me intrigued. Apparently this new release will have as much in common with\u00a0<strong>Spawn of Possession<\/strong> as it will with\u00a0<strong>Gorguts<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Deathspell Omega<\/strong>. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/amputatedveinrecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-birth-of-infinity\" target=\"_blank\">The Atavistic Tide<\/a>&#8221;\u00a0isn&#8217;t terribly indicative of that influence, but\u00a0it sounds like the full thing will be solid regardless.\u00a0<em>The Birth of Infinity<\/em> is out on July 12th.<\/li>\n<li>Sometimes, you need tech with a little more groove than shred. For those occasions, we have\u00a0<strong>The Schoenberg Automaton<\/strong>, who have a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprp.com\/2016\/04\/28\/news\/the-schoenberg-automaton\/\" target=\"_blank\">new song<\/a>\u00a0streaming from the forthcoming\u00a0<em>Apus<\/em>. Look for it on June 3rd.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>OH HEY <a href=\"http:\/\/decibelmagazine.com\/blog\/2016\/4\/29\/gorguts-premiere-pleaides-dust\" target=\"_blank\">GORGUTS STREAM<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_32369\"  width=\"320\" height=\"240\"  data-origwidth=\"320\" data-origheight=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KDDcp4KbWTc?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It has been far too long since\u00a0<strong>First Fragment<\/strong> graced us with new music. Their debut EP, covered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/tech-death-thursday-first-fragment\/\" target=\"_blank\">here <\/a>by the venerable St. Bauer, came out in 2010. With scant\u00a0updates in the interim between albums and a couple long delays in the past year, it seemed that a new album\u00a0would never arrive. Finally we were given a new song last month, and now the full release is right around the corner. Let me tell you: it was totally worth the wait.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dasein<\/em> wastes no time, opening with the blistering &#8220;Le Serment De Tsion&#8221; and setting the stage for the album as a whole. This first track will give you a clear picture of what you&#8217;re getting into on this album. The guitar duo of Phil Tougas (of\u00a0<strong>Chthe&#8217;ilist<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Serocs<\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong>Zealotry<\/strong> infamy) and Gabriel Brault-Pilon are front-and-center throughout. The virtuosity of these two is incredible, but the music isn&#8217;t simply about how many BPM they hit per song; the writing is easily on par with the playing. No note is wasted here, with gorgeous hooks and melodic (if not necessarily rhythmic) counterpoint abounding. The solos are absolutely phenomenal, too; it&#8217;s rare for soloing to do anything more than provide a cool showcase for the lead guitarist, but in this instance, it actually elevates the music. It&#8217;s one thing to write a solo that fits the music, but it&#8217;s another thing entirely to be able to capture the essence of a whole song within one.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_58128\"  width=\"320\" height=\"240\"  data-origwidth=\"320\" data-origheight=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xdGsJWFj4xw?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While the guitarists are impressive, the rest of the band aren&#8217;t exactly slouches, either. Drummer Troy Fullerton (<strong>Severed Savior<\/strong>), when not laying down wave after wave of high-speed blastbeats, puts out some fantastic grooves and complex beats. The bassist gets a couple moments to shine forth as well; he goes toe-to-toe with the formidable guitar duo in each song and keeps pace, taking a solo on the title track and classicaly-influenced song &#8220;Pr\u00e9lude En Sol Di\u00e8se Mineur&#8221; as well. The vocal performance is the icing on the cake, spitting each line in a raw snarl. His voice sounds truly ragged in some parts, particularly when you hear him on his own, making for a nice change of pace from the usual tech death fare. Each musician is fantastic in their own right, and they&#8217;re brought together in one intense package.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/first_fragment_band_pic.jpg?ssl=1\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-47864\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-47864 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/first_fragment_band_pic.jpg?resize=700%2C231&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"first_fragment_band_pic\" width=\"700\" height=\"231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/first_fragment_band_pic.jpg?w=700&amp;ssl=1 700w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/first_fragment_band_pic.jpg?resize=300%2C99&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, that same intensity is probably their only shortcoming. The music reaches and occasionally surpasses\u00a0<strong>Archspire<\/strong> levels of speed and intensity (seriously, closer &#8220;Evhron&#8221; has the fastest\/longest gravity blast I&#8217;ve ever heard), but it creates a lack of variety when they&#8217;re constantly blazing through songs at maximum speed. There are a couple welcome breaks present in the form of Spanish guitar pieces and swing interludes in a couple tunes, but there are a lot of segments in the same key at the same tempo that could easily be part of the same song. That said, the song &#8220;Arch\u00e9type&#8221; is probably the strongest tech death tune by a band not called\u00a0<strong>Obscura<\/strong> that I&#8217;ve heard this year, due in no small part to its variety. The band is at their strongest, when they&#8217;re playing with time signatures and different feelings within the same song. I hope to hear more of that from the band in the future, because they&#8217;re damn good at it.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dasein<\/em> brings to the table exactly the kind of music most people will think of when they hear the term &#8220;tech death.&#8221; It&#8217;s incredibly fast, very dense, and almost exhausting to listen to. It&#8217;s the type of album that&#8217;s unlikely to convert any new fans, but will carry universal appeal to anyone invested in\u00a0the genre. I love it for its entirely uncompromising nature, but I understand there are those who will hate it for the same reason; because of that, I give it:<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">4\/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?ssl=1\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-38030\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-38030 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5-1024x234.jpg?resize=960%2C219&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5\" width=\"960\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?resize=1024%2C234&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?resize=300%2C68&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?w=1249&amp;ssl=1 1249w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">First Fragment can be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FirstFragmentOfficiel\/timeline\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>; swing by and tell them the Toilet says hello.\u00a0<em>Dasein<\/em> will be out on May 20th through Unique Leader Records and can be preordered right <a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiemerch.com\/uniqueleader\/band\/first-fragment\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. That&#8217;s all for now, my fellow Toileteers. Until next time,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3rA1B1U9Kjs\" target=\"_blank\">Stay Tech<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Do you have a band you would like to see featured? A new release we should keep an eye on? Or maybe you want to do some writing yourself? Then email us at techdeathtovh@gmail.com and make your voice heard!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">(Image <a href=\"http:\/\/cdn.uniqueleader.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/first_fragment_band_pic.jpg?a85400\" target=\"_blank\">VIA<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After six long years, the Canadian neoclassical shredders are back with their first full album! Make sure your face&#8217;s last will and testament is up to date, because it&#8217;s about to get melted straight off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":47841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"diddlydiddlywiddlywiddly IT'S TECH DEATH THURSDAY! This week features First Fragment and all the tech news you need","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[70,640],"tags":[7381,790,2852,531,7379,7382,1211,4008,7380,7383],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/ffcrop.jpg?fit=700%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47837"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}