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 even more sick bands, all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
California natives The Last Of Lucy are a band I've been closely following ever since their debut release Euphoric Obsessions blew me the fuck away in 2010. The groups 2014 follow up, Exalted Compositions, was an even stronger effort, and remains an intense release I still spin currently. Now they’re back with an ambitious and deranged full-length called Ashvattha. We've got the early full stream of it below ahead of its official release this Friday, November 17th.
It’s difficult to try to compare the music on Ashvattha to anything else out there, the group’s spastic-meets-multi-faceted approach to mixing technical death metal with mathcore, grind, a lot of heavy groove element to the music, ambient electronic layers, and lots of killer saxophone playing throughout the album is one of a kind. Combine all that together and shake chaotically and you have a brilliantly schizophrenic sounding effort here.
As a sucker for well-done multi-song suites, I'm loving that Ashvattha kicks off with an interconnected three-song effort beginning with scorchers "Chapter I: Epiphyte" and "Chapter II: Odyssey". Culminating in a stunning saxophone and electronic music heavy payoff on “Chapter III: Ashvattha Awaits”. But it's not a soft landing of a payoff entirely, as "Ashvattha Awaits" also contains some of their most epic aggressive material on the album. Following that is an instrumental interlude called "Hypostatize". A light and beautiful piece, "Hypostatize" acts as a calming reprieve from the overwhelming onslaught soon returning once “Obsidian Archetype” and “Advertent Avidity” enter once it ends.
After those two bruising tracks comes another short instrumental called “Vigilance” that offers a bright soft breather before the next two-song frenetic volley found on “Formication” and “Agarttha”. The album then ends with “Permutation”, an outro that feels like a mix between their normal style but then breaks out into a hypnotic repetition centered openness which feels like the musical equivalent of leaving the universe. It’s the group's constant back-and-forth duality between dense and ever-shifting madness and tranquil gorgeous moments that help make Ashvattha such an interesting experience.
If you’re looking for something on the unconventional side of the technical death metal spectrum, it doesn’t get much better than The Last Of Lucy and Ashvattha. So make sure to jam our early stream of Ashvattha below, and if you’re digging it, you can order the album through their Bandcamp page. You can follow the group over on The Last Of Lucy Facebook Page as well.
