Although they’ve only released one LP so far—2016’s Solipsist—Californian quartet The Zenith Passage have proven themselves as an intriguing force in modern tech death metal. After all, certain members have also been in The Faceless, All Shall Perish and/or Fallujah. Thus, it’s not very surprising that successor Datalysium—which was created and performed with an almost entirely different lineup—builds upon what made that first outing so promising, resulting in a more absorbing and cohesive sophomore outing.
Curiously, only multi-instrumentalist Justin McKinney remains from Solipsist, as vocalist Greg Hampton, guitarist Rob Maramonte, and drummer Luiz Martinez have been replaced by Derek Rydquist, Christopher Beattie, and Brandon Giffin. Along the way, drummer Matthew Paulazzo left twice, and while they have two touring percussionists (Michael Ranne and Chason Westmoreland), neither is credited on Datalysium.
The record also marks their debut with Metal Blade Records, and it’s one of two collections The Zenith Passage worked on simultaneously (with the other being “symphonic, cinematic, [and] darker” by comparison). Taking all of that into consideration, it’s easy to see why the album—which the band justly describes as the musical offspring of Necrophagist, Meshuggah, Extol, and Cynic—needed to firmly illustrate the group’s passion and aptitude for evolving as much as possible.
It absolutely does, emphasizing their penchant for “jazz fusion passages, dissonant black metal, synth and orchestral elements” alongside explorations of how technology can lead to “fear and loneliness, . . . [and] control and obsoletion.” On that note, the title (a term The Zenith Passage created) refers to “people . . . being promised their lives will end, in the splendor of some digitized immortality” as they “willingly . . . invent [themselves] out of relevance and usefulness.”
Clearly, there’s a lot going on here, and the band guarantees that the journey is ambitious and alluring from beginning to end
For instance, there’s plenty of spiritedly tricky BTBAM-esque jazz fusion/prog metal flourishes across the disc. From the toweringly kooky guitar work, cautionary atmospheres, and bizarre rhythms of “Algorithmic Salvation” to the soothing segues of “Lexicontagion” and the quirky synths of “Deletion Cult,” there’s a lot going on here and virtually every moment flows fluidly and exudes refined imagination and genre-splicing ingenuity.
That’s not to say that the record isn’t bluntly abrasive, too; on the contrary, much of it is extremely coarse, dishing out all of the guttural decrees and relentlessly crushing instrumentation death metal fans could want. In particular, opener “The Axiom of Error” and “Divinertia II” rarely, if ever, give listeners time to recover from their in-your-face onslaughts. Plus, some of the lyrics are typically nihilistic (“Gazing anguished into the abyss that doesn't stare back” from “Synaptic Depravation,” for example).
Special credit must be given to the quartet’s balance of clean and harsh singing as well. Like the greatest bands of their ilk, they’re able to provide both devastatingly brutal and calmingly melodic vocal passages (no pun intended). Whether they occur separately—such as during “Synaptic Depravation”—or simultaneously—such as during the closing title track—they’re among the most impressive and engaging juxtapositions on the LP.
Beyond being a sizable improvement over Solipsist, Datalysium will surely go down as one of 2023’s greatest tech death metal opuses. While it’s definitely reminiscent of a few other artists (what isn’t these days?), The Zenith Passage do more than enough to ensure that the sequence bears its own specialties, too. Either way, it’s a thoroughly captivating and confident ride that any and all fans of the genre should track down ASAP.
