Lost Soul – Immerse in Infinity – 4.5/5
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In truth I’m not sure entirely how to tackle this one: its Tech Death, but it never really feels like it. Sure, you have the drums blasting away at ridiculous speeds and the technical crazy riffing to boot, but whether from the immaculate production allowing crystal clear clarity of each instrument, performed like a master swordsman (short, sharp, and powerful but still with finesse), the mid-paced melodic magic to some of the solos or what I can only really describe as ‘ambient’ passages, it never comes off as forced, the technical aspect feeling naturally used; rather than to create an unpredictable dissonance between changes of tempo, it’s used to demonstrate the genuine turmoil of the music as it progresses through both the calm and the chaos.
It is perhaps the guitars that do the most to ease these transitions, performing outside of conventional styles to combine deep bombastic bass rhythms, at times even bringing an odd sense of groove to the proceedings, lending a far greater variety than raw speed could ever do. The rhythm spends a good deal of time complementing this, creating the basic, often quick tempo to the proceedings, allowing the leads to combine crushingly slow, almost doom like chords to frantic sweeps amidst tremolo riffs and triplets galore, galloping with a mechanical precision, grinding like mechanical cogs to this polish war machine.
Continuing this diabolical mechanical efficiency and putting the guitars to shame enter the drums, at times feeling perhaps a little sterile; a little too perfect for their own good, but the speeds accomplished coupled with the constant variation of beats, timing the use of the expected blasts so as to not become overused, make this issue negligible by comparison. Roaring once more in the face of convention, the normal situation of the incredibly deep vocalist has been replaced with an odd mid-range growl, as if he couldn’t decide whether to mimic ‘Nergal’ (Behemoth) or Dickinson (Maiden), and so combined the two resulting in an unusual soaring, crystal clear growl, which as odd as it sounds, actually fits the indefinable music at hand.
But it’s not just the individual parts, everything has its place; the slower ‘ambient’ passages slowly introducing many of the tracks, the guitars hanging back to let the bass carry its groove, the drums crashing down to welcome the slow melodic introduction to the guitar solo that wouldn’t feel all that out of place in a power metal ballad, proving to be just the calm before the technical shit storm; the flurry of notes that still doesn’t feel out of place amongst the frenzied work going on behind it. At an hour long it outlasts most others in the genre too, but between the atmospheric interludes, blackened riffs, oriental overtones and conga intro’s, the variety here is staggering. I would never claim to be a big fan of the genre, but if this is the direction the genre is heading, then I must say, I could get used to this.
Highlights: …If the Dead Can Speak, Breath of Nibiru, Simulation
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