General Bomb Machine: Dogma

Technical Death from Austria with hints of progressive sounds not dissimilar to Voivod or Coroner. The songs have a bit of a groove feel to them, while the vocals are gruff, but not what you would expect from death metal. Overall, this EP has a few hits and misses, but with a little more refinement, I think, if they could have produced an appropriate full length, they would have been able to better convey the sound they began to develop on “Dogma”

Highlights: "Sunfever", "Seeled in Screwbay"

Rating: 2.5

Cephalic Carnage: Xenosapien

I enjoyed Cephalic Carnage’s previous release “Anomalies” however, upon hearing “Xenosapien” I knew I was in for a wild ride. As I’ve stated before, technical death metal, along with mathcore and Djent can be a very hit or miss. I find that many bands try to replicate a particular sound, or an atmosphere that fits the style’s narrative, but in the process, fails to create their own distinct sound. In the case of Cephalic Carnage, they’ve been in the game for a while (13 years on the year of this release) and over that time, they’ve learned a thing or two.

Yes, “Xenosapien” is a blend of deathgrind and technical death metal, one that centers around bizarre time shifts, crazy riffs and spastic vocals. However, even though, this is follow the formula that I was talking about earlier, Xenosapien more than creates its own footprint. The first thing I noticed was how the entire album flows seamlessly, yet never settles into a comfort zone. The songs start, go through various tempo shifts, insane riffs and pummeling drums and doesn’t quit until the song ends. “Touched by an Angel”, “Divination and Volition” and “Endless Cycle of Violence” display this seamless chaos perfectly, while “G.lobal O.verhaul D.evice” throws a curveball into the fold by adding a little saxophone to the mix. On that note, one thing that this album has compared to the many tech/deathgrind acts out there is a uniqueness factor. I’m not going to say that each and every song is excellent, but at the very least, each song has its own identity.

All in all, “Xenosapien” is a fun listen that, although is not a masterpiece by any stretch, has enough individuality to stand out on its own. Not every song on this release will knock your socks off, but I doubt you’ll become bored with the overall experience. If you enjoy a little tech/deathgrind be sure to give this a listen, but I think those seeking a little dose of the bizarre will be more than satisfied.

Highlights: “Touched by an Angel”, “Divination and Volition” “Endless Cycle of Violence” “Molting”

Rating: 3.5

Archspire: Restless Mutation

Today, there are a number of technical death metal outfits, mathcore, Djent you name it, that display their ability to create an insane brand of music that will leave the listener wondering what follow after each section of insanity. Now, that can be both a good thing and a bad thing, as sometimes the anticipation of wonder is rewarded with an intriguing sound, while other times, the end result can be disappointing to say the least. I find when a band attaches their sound to their ability to create time shift madness, their needs to be additional layers to their sound to compliment those shifts or else it just comes off as a display of untethered madness.

“Restless Mutation” is quite an anomaly. The madness displayed here is technical death metal at heart, but with so many weird aspects to it that it might have to be filed under a separate genre. The aforementioned time shifts are accompanied with machine gun drums (listen to the opening of "Calamus Will Animate". It sounds like the machine gun from the "Get Some" helicopter scene from Full Metal Jacket), slamming elements, bizarre tempo changes and vocals ranging from brutal death to almost rap. This is literally a cornucopia of sounds and emotions to create an atmosphere that could have only been concocted within the laboratory of a mad scientist.

The spastic riffs, short blasts of solos and intense hooks put on quite a display of technical death metal prowess. The drumming must be a drum machine, right? No human could play at that tempo, right? The drumming is indeed handled by a human, Spencer Prewett to be exact, although it could be possible that he is just a T-800 cybernetic organism with living tissue over a metal endoskeleton, but who knows for sure? I may be alone here, but Oli Peters reminds me a lot of Brendon Small from Dethklok. Something about his murky sound, I don’t know. That being, said, Peters’ display a wide range of vocal abilities on “Restless Mutation” that I feel fits the insanity perfectly.

I know there are plenty of technical death albums that seem to just feel forced or try to focus so much on the technical mechanics that they fail to put together a complete product. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and mine is that, “Restless Mutation” is a fine display of bizarre technical death metal, whose elemental sums form the whole of a unique and fun listen. Maybe you’ll like this album, maybe you’ll find it to be a gimmick. Either way, there is only one way to find out and I recommend giving “Restless Mutation” at least one listen to hear for yourself.

Highlights: “Calamus Will Animate” “Involuntary Doppelganger” “A Dark Horizontal” “Human Murmuration”

Rating: 4