Hey there tech-fiends, it's that time of the week again. I hope some of you all enjoyed last week's early Ezerath stream, and I'm glad to be diving right back into even more new Canadian technical death metal this week too. It's been awhile since I covered more than one release at a time, but there's a lot of good stuff that's dropped and as we all know, there's a lot more still to come. So hopefully you'll enjoy at least one of the two bands we're covering today, if not both of them. If you're looking for more sick music, here's the weekly reminder that all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
The Hallowed Catharsis – Solar Cremation
I've been following Vancouver-based destroyers The Hallowed Catharsis for a few years now, and with each release they've improved by leaps and bounds. Culminating in what's easily their most accomplished and intricate work thusfar on their new 2017 EP, Solar Cremation. Just to get it out of the way upfront, there are a few vocal parts and punk-ish riffs that rub me the wrong way, but its not enough to keep me from enjoying this and continually coming back to it. If you're new to the band, their take on tech-death is strongly rooted in prog-death and prog in general. The first two songs follow a somewhat straightforward tech-death path, but with enough proggy flourishes and rich instrumental moments to keep me interested. But it's what comes after the first two songs that really impresses me most here. From track three, "Jabberwocky" on, the release dives into the deep end of prog heavy tech-death, absolutely jam packed material that shows the band firing on all cylinders. A trend that continues on track four, "Solar Cremation" and also on the closer, "Jetsam". The run time for the final three songs clocks in at six minutes for one, and over nine minutes for the two others. So naturally this is where things get expansive in scope and style, and makes for the part of this release that best hightlights the bands newfound sonic evolution.
If you dig what you're hearing through the album embed below, Solar Cremation can be ordered through the The Hallowed Catharsis Bandcamp page. Be sure to follow the band over at their Facebook Page too.
Ataxia – Awaken The Nebula
I've been following Ataxia since 2014 when they released their first full-length, Caliginous, and for good reason, this London, Ontario-based band are clearly steeped in decades of cumulative death metal wisdom and experience. Ataxia play a unique brand of technical brutal death metal, one that varies quite a bit structure and style wise from track to track here on Awaken The Nebula. Making for an album far more musically varied and intriguing than most bands of their ilk. The album tends to cascade back and forth between more brutal minded tracks and more warp speed technical frenzy tracks, although most still intertwine both ends of their sound as well, just in different measures. If anything, this style is known for albums of uniform blandness, where everything sounds the same from song to song and moment to moment. Ataxia have escaped the confines of that mistake commonly found in technical brutal death meal, and in the process, delivered an album worth coming back to. There isn't a bad song on the album, and I really enjoy hearing the many different takes on death metal, tech-death, and brutal death metal that the band splice together with seeming ease into unique vessels of rage and immense energy. If you dig what you're hearing through the album embed below, Awaken The Nebula can be ordered through the Ataxia Bandcamp page. Be sure to follow the band over at the Ataxia Facebook Page too.
