“Visions Unseen resides somewhere between technical and melodic death metal without feeling fully like either. Guitarist Rémi Legresley, who creatively spearheads the group, plays vaguely neoclassical leads and solos, though you won’t hear much of the hyperactive shredding commonly found in modern tech death.” Time and tech.
“Despite a waning stigma, mental illness remains an oft-closeted topic, as those suffering from it struggle not only to cope but to discuss their struggles with others. Here to shed some of their death metal light on the matter are Canadian upstarts Harvested, with their independent debut full-length Dysthymia, which, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, is defined as a long-lasting form of mild depression.” The mind is a terrible thing to harvest.
“Whatever mood suits you—perhaps none at all if you prefer deathly excursions of the older and fetid variety—Fallujah’s alien guitar identity consistently earns them a notch on the altar atop many a post-The Faceless tech death connoisseur’s mantle. Yet, the path that Fallujah walks has not always been one of extreme innovation. Rather, in spindly idiosyncrasies and heavyweight melodic ripples, the California riffslingers have whipped their way from roots in crushing yet entrancing death metal, through increasing gazey atmospherics, and into a flexed, teched out expression of all their past lives.” Palette shifter.
March Filters bring summer bewilders when missed, so come see what we found in the iron scrapings.
“Imagine you are trying to get your friend into a genre of music you love. Perhaps that genre has some unfortunate tropes that even an untrained ear can discern as all instances being relegated to the denigrated status of the lowest common denominator. You know first impressions are crucial, and thus desperately want theirs to be of music that goes beyond those trappings so your friend can share your joy. Let’s say that genre is tech-death, and the album that your friend first comes across in their journey Eschaton’s third, Techtalitarian. The band’s discography heretofore has been solid, but unremarkable, and given a prior emphasis on something closer to deathcore, you feel justified unease.” Friends, enemies, wankcore.
February was a filthy, dirty month and the Filter Techs are gonna tell you all about it,
“I’ll be the first to admit that technical death metal is not my forte nor favorite. As much as I love death metal in its many stripes, I disapprove of how tech death often relies on blistering speed and technical showmanship rather than focusing on songwriting. But a nod from the immortal Willowtip Records and nine tracks across just 40 minutes makes for what should be a tidy slice of metal on Requiem by San Francisco’s Ominous Ruin.” The ruin of technicality.
““Exterminatus” is a Warhammer 40k term that describes a global mass extinction event authorized by the emperor when the Imperium deems the cost of holding or retaking a planet too high. While I’m naïve about such things, Canadian fivesome Exterminatus certainly isn’t. And these Canucks are here to incinerate your eardrums with a heavy dose of sci-fi inspired tech-death. Originally demoed in 2012, Echoes From a Distant Star Part I was to be the follow-up to Xenocide’s debut album, Galactic Oppression. However, the group disbanded before they completed the album, and its members—including most of the original lineup—subsequently formed Exterminatus.” Exterminate to evolve.
“Creation, evaluation, iteration—art lives and transforms an untold number of times before its flesh lays bare for a dissecting audience. Thus, the album runs on a path of turns sharp, around, back again—whatever it takes—before the artist declares it enough. Tom Geldschläger has worn many musical lives, both under his given moniker and “Fountainhead” with acclaimed acts like Obscura and Ingurgitating Oblivion, and as a performer/engineer. And now, with Changeling, Geldschläger seeks to express a culmination of his works, partnerships, and curiosities in a grand exploration of his unique fretless guitar stylings amongst progressive, orchestral, and deathly conjurings.” Grow, evolve, MUTATE!
“It’s been five long years since Nuklearth graced my ears for the first time, followed in quick succession by at least another 800 spins. I snubbed it too, in my year-end list for 2020, where I relegated it to my (ish) spot. Banger after banger after banger led me straight to the bludgeoning wing of my local urgent care. Simultaneously, it led me to 2017’s Gammageddon, German outfit Cytotoxin’s breakout third record of irradiated tech-death craziness. Two completely different records, but both instantly recognizable as Cytotoxin. It’s not easy to achieve this kind of hit-after-hit diversity within the span of two records, let alone in the technical death metal realm. Can they pull off the mad hat trick with Biographyte?” Fun with graphite.
