Hey there tech fiends, it's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's focus, here's the usual reminder that if you're looking for more sick music, all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
It's a testament to how strong of a year it's been for technical death metal that I still have a long list of releases with partial write-ups besides them as ones I want to cover somehow in 2018. So, as I've done in years past in December and January, there's a lot of great 2018 tech death from newer groups I'll try to highlight as time allows.
We begin with newcomers Aparia and their debut album, Beyond The Walls Of Man that dropped in June. They first got on my radar with a killer standalone single in February called "Chamber Of Pantology" along with hearing word of how many seasoned tech-death veterans were going to be on the album piquing my interest. Aparia is yet another promising tech-death band from the stacked California scene, the music on Beyond The Walls Of Man often reminds me of Decrepit Birth, Deeds of Flesh, and the Faceless. The songs here are constantly shifting gears between frenzied brutality, progressive death metal, and shredtastic realms over and over. To put it succinctly, Beyond The Walls Of Man does not sound like an amateur debut lacking direction or ambition, this is an advanced and incredibly well-composed debut album Aparia have crafted.
Every so often a flash of Spawn of Possession influence rears its head, and those are probably my favorite moments on the release. When the orchestral flourishes come in thick on “Aparia” and the aptly titled “Instrumental” the band hits a high note where I feel they stick out the most from being a composite of their influences, which isn't a bad thing at all. While a lot of bands are going the symphonic route in tech-death, the way its integrated here on Aparia is seamless and sublime in an above average manner. Perfectly matching the music without overpowering bestial vocals, accompanying razor sharp riffs and driving drumming its fighting for attention with. Add in some sick guest solos from killer shredders Malcolm Pugh and Sanjay Kumar adds some extra spicy flair to the release.
Beyond The Walls Of Man shows a lot of promise as a debut statement, it's really well written and a damn entertaining listen from start to finish. I'd say this is a strong beginning for Aparia and the very talented line-up assembled to create it is damn impressive so I could see this band growing and evolving considerably further by the time a follow up comes around. You can order Beyond The Walls Of Man through the Aparia Bandcamp Page. Be sure to follow the group over on the Aparia Facebook Page.
