Tag Archives: progressive death metal

Dreadnought – Emergence

by Matt Matheson

With the release of their fourth full-length album in six years, a band I once called “one of the best, most progressive young bands in metal right now” is nearing a level of establishment and maturity that probably signifies we can ditch the “young” adjective. While not everyone knows who Dreadnought is, Dreadnought knows what it is, and they waste no time on Emergence reminding us, kicking off the album with more immediacy than ever before. On the first track of their 2013 debut, Lifewoven, they opened with haunting ethereal atmosphere, introducing us to flute, congas, and lilting vocals … Read more

Warforged – I: Voice

by Matt Matheson

Consider the metal albums over the last decade or so that have received near-universal acclaim from critics and fans. The names that come to my mind include such releases as Vektor’s Terminal Redux, Mgła’s Exercises in Futility, and Rivers of Nihil’s Where Owls Know My Name. One common thread among these crowd-pleasers is that they tend to be a band’s second or third album; they’ve taken a couple of releases to find their footing and refine their sound, then it all finally comes together a few years into their career. Comparatively, very few bands … Read more

Convulsing – Grievous

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Australian solo project Convulsing has a nasty aura surrounding it. Starting with Errata and improving an already winning formula with “Engraved upon Bleached Bone”, their side of the split with Siberian Hell Sounds, Convulsing continues their skyward ascension with Grievous, their latest full-length endeavour.

Brendan Sloan’s instrumentals and vocals are irreproachable, twisting and turning the compositions this and that way, and providing a highly dissonant and complex framework that is in relentless evolution. That was the case on Errata, and it’s still the case on Grievous. Even the programming of the … Read more

Aseitas – Aseitas

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Aseitas is a progressive death metal band from Portland that just released its debut, self-titled full-length album. Aseitas is just shy of an hour long, and it nicely portrays the dissonant and somewhat atmospheric compositions of the band. Through some sickening tones, we hear an album the main focus of which is not to be a vehicle to showcase the levels of musicianship attainable by each member of the band. Indeed, the riffs are, for the most part, not very technical or impressive. Instead, the carefully-chosen series of notes therein grip you and abduct you into … Read more

Unreal Overflows – Latent

by Dæv Tremblay

The Italian progressive technical death metal crew known as Unreal Overflows soon will release their third full-length, Latent. Often compared to Death, Cynic, Atheist, and other early tech-death entities, Unreal Overflows embed some jazz music theory knowledge into a melodic, technical, and progressive form of death metal that totally warrants the aforementioned comparisons. More up to date, they sound a lot like Contrarian, who recently released a very good retro-tech-death album with To Perceive Is to Suffer. Latent is definitely in that vein, too, somewhat paying homage to the pioneers of the genre while bringing something new to … Read more