The only constant is change, so with that in mind, I’m proud to bring you the first weekly installment of Tech-Death Tuesday here at Metal-Injection. The main focus will be on independent and unsigned bands overall. But I may occasionally post about new songs or records by technical death metal bands who are on lesser known labels or if they aren’t a well known band. Most weeks will feature music from two bands, although there will be weeks that feature only one release, and some that will feature more than two. What won’t change though, is the high quality of the bands chosen for this series. Without further ado, enjoy some sweet jams and bang your heads to today’s two selections.
Sutrah – Effervescence
Effervesce (Demo) by Sutrah
Canada has long been recognized as the mecca of all things technical death metal, it's insane how many of the very best bands in the genre reside in Canada. And not only that, but they continue to have wave after wave of new bands pop up with something fresh to add to their take on tech-death. Very recent upstarts Sutrah from Montreal definitely fit that criteria. Their two-song demo called Effervescence just came out on September 15th, but I’d hardly call it a demo. Both track one, “Effervescence” and track two “Akrasia” are meticulously composed works of art with a strong progressive and atmospheric bend to them that sounds polished and like the work of a well-established band. It’s hardly rough sounding demo material at all.
Beyond being very well written, I like the experimental flourishes Sutrah enhances their music with. Such as the reyong (a Balinese instrument made up of a row of gongs attached to a frame) led intro to “Effervescence” that is strangely catchy. Likewise, the integration of a few clean singing passages paired with death growls on “Akrasia” is tastefully done and will appeal to fans of other technically minded groups such as Nevermore, and Black Crown Initiate who have added singing within a similarly heavy context. The music on Effervescence often reminds me of the cerebral and progressive approach to technical death metal that Beyond Creation takes. You can grab Effervescence for whatever price you choose over at their bandcamp.
Xenosis – Sowing the Seeds of Destruction
Sowing the Seeds of Destruction by Xenosis
Right off the bat, the artwork for Sowing the Seeds of Destruction draws you in and hints at the equally original music hiding behind its mesmerizing cover. I’ve had some people tell me it reminds them of the kind of trippy and celestial work artist Alex Gray did for Tool in the past. Xenosis are a progressive death metal band from New Hampton, Connecticut. The band was established in 2010 and have already released a self-titled EP and a full-length called Haunted Skies in 2012 prior to this year's release of Sowing the Seeds of Destruction. In addition to their technical death metal inclinations, they specialize in weaving in lots of stuttered odd-time signature captivating grooves, and a wonderfully restrained yet mesmerizing melodic dimension too. But overall, they are pretty evenly split between playing technical death metal and progressive death metal.
None of the tracks unfold in the same way, but all of them have a penchant for frequently switching gears between their technical and progressive sides. As a result of this, the songs on Sowing the Seeds of Destruction have a fluid dynamic nature to them. For the purposes of this post though, I suggest starting on the most solidly technical death metal sounding tracks called “Red Waves” and “Turn Over Thy Crown”. Although that’s not to say that either of them sounds a whole lot like any other technical death metal act around. Sowing the Seeds of Destruction has quickly become one of my favorite death metal releases of the year. It’s exceptionally well-written music by a band who keeps getting better and better with each release.
