Hey there, tech fiends. It's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's focus, here's the usual weekly reminder that if you're looking for even more sick bands to hear, all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
There’s quite a bit of what most would consider being more “traditional” and progressive-death minded tech-death from 2019 that I’ve yet to cover, and plan to. A point I’m only mentioning because the recent glut of obscenely top-notch brutal-minded tech-death continues to grab my attention as of late between underground gems I covered like Shinda Saibo No Katamari, an early stream for Disentomb two weeks ago, and covering last week’s new ridiculous Wormed EP, Metaportal.
So, with that in mind, if technical brutal death metal focused on a harsh sensory overload isn’t your thing, this week's focus is another dose of that form on Demiurgon – The Oblivious Lure. The Oblivious Lure is the second full-length from Modena, Italy-based bruisers Demiurgon, it was recently released on July 12th through Everlasting Spew Records. I’m late to covering it for a few reasons, all of which are my fault and that's just how it goes a lot of times.
The group’s debut album, Above The Unworthy, dropped in 2015, and I checked out some of the early singles that were covered at NoCleanSinging.com which is where I used to write for many years. When I was told a follow up was coming, I didn’t really have a strong reaction that would have elicited me keeping an eye on it, a definite mistake given the benefit of hindsight. I may have not checked their prior release deeply enough to feel it fit within the realm of tech-death, yet, it also seems the group has evolved quite a bit towards a more complex sound as well throughout The Oblivious Lure. So, that could be part of why I didn't check this out until now as well.
Their label cites this release as being geared towards people interested in early-Origin and Cattle Decapitation mainly, and, that’s fairly dead-on. This feels a lot more creative and intriguing compared to their 2015 debut, confirmed when I went back to compare it tonight with their new 2019 effort I’m discussing now. Four years is a solid amount of time, and, apparently that 2015 debut was written and delivered to the world towards the group's inception so their apparent evolution towards something more unique makes sense really. The other cited influences from Monstrosity and Beheaded also ring true from both the brutal and old-school inflected destructive edges to this release that supplement almost going-off-the-rails controlled chaos base that The Oblivious Lure does very damn well.
Musically, both efforts draw from a similar sonic template as mentioned above, the songs here are of a largely speedy, brutal, and grind burst addled variety though some differences from their past work and this superior release are quite clear. Mainly in the complexity and variety of the guitar-work and songwriting, as a combined force, that definitely lends The Oblivious Lure a more clear sense of fitting within technical brutal death metal this go around.
In summation, there’s a very solid blend of ideas going on here that elevates this above standard technical brutal death metal trappings from start to finish. Consider me a convert, albeit, late to the party, I know. I’ve embedded The Oblivious Lure below if you’re new to it, and, you can order it through the Everlasting Spew Records site and through the Demiurgon Bandcamp page if you like what you here. You can follow the group over on the Demiurgon Facebook Page.
