The ever growing technical enhancements in music can be utilized in such a way that the creativity soars to new heights, engaging the ears of anyone willing listen. One of the best examples of this more positive side of technology can be found with Technical Melodic Death Metal bands such as Allegaeon. Together for over a decade, and continuously rising to new heights along the way, they now prepare to release their latest album, Apoptosis, on April 19, 2019 through Metal Blade Records.
Their fifth overall studio record, right off the bat, there is a noted high energy full of excitement given with Heavy Metal conviction. Formed in Colorado back in 2008, there have been some shifts in the lineup through the years, but they are better than ever with the current lineup featuring lone original member Greg Burgess on lead guitar, Michael Stancel on rhythm guitar, Brandon Park on drums, the well-rounded attack of Riley McShane on vocals, and newest member, Brandon Michael on bass.
Looking deeper into the concept behind their latest effort, the title ‘Apoptosis’ actually refers to a scientific term involving the death of cells, and appropriately, it invests itself wisely into the heartened message of the album based on the idea of breeding new life from death. In fact, cells regenerate as do technical death melodies, which are fluffed out in abundance all over the album.
Starting off the complexities of the eleven track album is “Parthenogenesis,” filling your eardrums with a fluid progressive melodic riff guaranteed to wash away any dwelling thoughts bringing pure Tech Death into the soul. “Interphase//Meiosis” is a showcase of what Allegaeon excels at, and that is their ability to jump sporadically from pure fluid melodic Tech Death into a bit of an extreme super heavy Grindcore drum style, matched with growling vocal style that ignites a full-fledged fire. This wild-eyed notion is quite apparent on “Extremophiles (B),” followed by a less intense “Extremophiles (A).”
Quickly proven to be a collection of songs to get completely lost in, perhaps the most stagnantly structured songs is “Metaphobia,” although, it is still quite entertaining. This leads into what is arguably the record’s climate, the witty titled “Tsunami and Submergence.” Stretching to almost six and a half minutes, there are no deep waters unexplored. This directly correlates to a brief and serenely melodic tune “Colors Of The Currents,” which suffers literal disruption with the grind influenced “Stellar Tidal Disruption.” Finalizing the journey, the title-track explores the vast perfection of how McShane beautifully captures an on key clean pitch while he can also exhale the perfect growl, much in the same way as Devin Townsend.
Upon multiple listens, Apoptosis reveals itself as a brilliantly laid out melodic Technical Death album that can fully be enjoyed by fans of various genres of Metal. The future is exciting for the Extreme Metal world and Allegaeon has much to do with its forward-thinking success. For these reasons, Cryptic Rock gives Apoptosis 4.5 out of 5 stars.
){kind=link}
No comment