As a country, Finland definitely has its fair share of notable metal bands, but it seems technical death metal is one of its smaller metal music scenes. Fortunately, local Jyväskylä, Finland natives Raster Density have been hard at work pumping out quality material since 2008, almost as if they are trying to carry the tech-death scene forwards in their country all by themselves. Their last album, 2014's Ov Hands and Bestial Pleasure, was my first introduction to the group, and while it wasn't groundbreaking, it certainly impressed me enough to keep an eye on them and see if they evolved as a group on future releases. Which leads us to the band's forthcoming second album, Mother ov Mankind, that we're streaming early in full today, ahead of its official release this Friday, May 5th.
Raster Density's take on tech-death draws plenty of strength and influence from brutal death metal, though their overall package doesn't quite fit the typical technical brutal death metal mold. This is partially due to the band's frequent inclusion of more progressive focused flourishes, the inclusion of elastic groove heavy moments, and a willingness to toy with different styles of tech-death throughout the eight killer songs that make up Mother ov Mankind. Beyond all of that, Raster Density does a commendable job at balancing consistently high-quality music with a desire to experiment and throw in some curveballs, without ever doing so in a way that leads to a drop in quality. This is something a lot of tech-death bands suffer from when branching out beyond their core sound, but thankfully, Raster Density avoids this common pitfall with seeming ease.
On Mother ov Mankind, Raster Density has really come into their own soundwise, and as songwriters as well. So be sure to jam the album below, and give it a shot. If you dig what you're hearing, Mother ov Mankind will be out on Friday through a variety of platforms. Be sure to follow Raster Density over on their Facebook Page as well.
