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.
In spite of personal tastes, oftentimes we’re all victims of timing as well when it comes to finding something appealing or not. As an example, I was somewhat burnt out on the burgeoning technical melodic death metal scene when The Odious Construct dropped their self-titled 4-song EP in 2016. I didn’t exactly sleep on it, I just wasn’t entirely sold on them at the time either and felt they were capable of more. It’s only been two years time since that one and their new badass five-song effort “Shrine of the Obscene” will be out this Friday, October 12th through The Artisan Era. We’ve got the early stream of it for you today and I’m sure this one will please a lot of tech-death heads out there.
Shrine of the Obscene is a top-notch quality release of super melodic charged complex death metal built upon short, compact, and catchy songs that have an incredible depth and adventurous twisting nature to how they unfold which gives their take on the style more meat it on its bones. Speaking of bones and horrific fun, I detect a fair bit more progressive death metal and brutal tinged ideas this go around. If anyone is missing the sound Irreversible Mechanism had on their first album between melodic, progressive, and symphonic tech-death, you’re all but guaranteed to enjoy what this release serves up.
On Shrine of the Obscene, the band bakes enough tweaks and fresh elements into their music not present in many of their peer's music and in doing so they’ve crafted one of the more interesting releases in the burgeoning technical melodic death metal centered style. This includes a newfound emphasis on rich symphonic layers and keys that really adds to their sound, as does the audible and fantastic bass guitar work throughout, and the aforementioned additional super aggressive brutal tinged bits and prog death flourishes for more variety. Last but not least, the band’s leads were a high point last time for me but I wasn’t as impressed by the riffs to the same degree. Thankfully that’s been overhauled big time here with even sicker riffs and more variety to them jam-packed in this just under 20-minute explosive death metal assault.
The opening track sets the stage well as a scorching opening statement of intent that packs a lot into a short run time. From there the group switches up the formula on each song to varying degrees and that really pays off when it comes making each song stick out. There isn’t a weak song here and it’s impressive that even after starting incredibly strong they maintain a high standard of quality all the way to the closing title track which somehow tops all the other great songs here and sits as the most impressive one of the bunch. There is a hook-heavy earworm nature to these songs and that's always a good hallmark something is a winner when it gets stuck in my head frequently after hearing it.
The Odious Construct is going in a different direction from their peers with something a bit denser and more diverse on Shrine of the Obscene and it really pays off. More bands in this niche field could learn from the multi-faceted expansion to their sound The Odious Construct took here. Their evolution throughout these five songs really helps the band stick out from the sea of same-y hard to tell apart technical melodic take on The Black Dahlia Murder sound type acts. So be sure to check out Shrine of the Obscene below and you can order the release from the label here and from their Bandcamp page if it interests you. You can follow the group over on The Odious Construct Facebook Page.
