Hey there fellow tech-death fiends, it's time once again for Tech-Death Tuesday here at Metal-Injection. I hope everyone out there in the United States reading this had one hell of a gluttonous feast last holiday weekend. For those of us who are tuning in for the first time, this a series dedicated to sharing both new and lesser known technical death metal fans with fans of the genre. If you like what you hear below and want to check out past editions of this series go here. For today's picks I've got two just recently dropped releases to show you. But in the coming weeks and months I'll probably delve into some of the more obscure tech-death releases I cherish from years past. Until next time, Stay Tech out there.
Ending Tyranny- Evolution Of Deceit
Love them or hate them, Beneath The Massacre have done a lot to shape the current landscape and style of modern over-the-top technical death metal. Unfortunately for die hard fans of the band, it's been three long years since 2012's Incongruous, and even that wasn't the bands strongest record in a lot of people's opinions. So it's a damn good thing I stumbled onto Ontario based act Ending Tyranny recently, as their newly released record, Evolution Of Deceit, scratches that sonic itch Beneath The Massacre gifted the world with. It's important to note that in spite of the obvious Beneath The Massacre influence throughout Evolution Of Deceit, the band does a lot more to craft their own sound than other well known Beneath The Massacre clones such as Hedonistic Exility, Neverending War, and others. Ending Tyranny do this by incorporating razor sharp riffage in lieu of mechanical chugging, and by featuring a melodic emphasis in the lead guitar-work alongside a Necrophagist styled technical flair at times. There is also less emphasis on lengthy breakdowns in their music than Beneath The Massacre has sometimes placed in their songs. If there are ever any on the songs here, they are very brief and act more as transition points than an overbearing waste of space or momentum killer. While Ending Tyranny are certainly not reinventing the wheel, Evolution Of Deceit gets high marks from me as a fun record to play with a lot to offer.
Aethereus- Ego Futurus
Now that we've covered brutal and in-your-face tech-death this week with Ending Tyranny, we move on to music that's more cerebral and progressive with Tacoma, Washington based act Aethereus. Aethereus first came to my attention back in 2013 when they were creating music under their old moniker Seker with the release of their album at the time called Transcendence. Aethereus confirmed to me that in spite of the name change, it's the same people involved. Although the music itself is far more evolved and interesting now than how they used to sound before. The band's debut release, Ego Futurus, just came out a few days ago and I'm really enjoying what it has to offer.
Fans of Obscura and early The Faceless are strongly advised to check this out as it comes across somewhat like a cross between the two bands sounds. The release consists of six songs total at just around 20 minutes, but three of the songs are merely brief instrumentals. Typically this would irritate me, but since their non-interlude songs are meaty dense numbers, I can see how including some instrumental reprieves helps to enhance the impact of the other songs on Ego Futurus. To the bands credit, there is a lot going on in all of the core songs, and every listen of Ego Futurus leaves me wanting more which is definitely a good thing. Here's to hoping they continue to evolve their sound and release something down the line that blows even this fantastic release out of the water.
