Review Summary: Experiencing grind: Now with extra steps.
For many a casual listener, grind can provide nothing but pure, unadulterated noise, and be enough to satisfy any desires for a hellish heaviness. There’s nothing wrong with that; part of the appeal is the fact that any grind act worth their salt puts the listener in a veritable blender and lets loose for the next half hour or so. Riffs twist and turn, practically indistinguishable, while percussion races forward at faster and faster speeds and the vocals scream out incomprehensible, though most likely angry, prose. What places a given band above another is whether or not those brief escapades are
individually memorable. All of the aforementioned traits are enjoyable, certainly, yet sometimes it’s difficult to avoid the nagging craving for something memorable to cling onto. Blender tactics can only work for so long before the audience is no longer dizzy and disoriented—everything seems rather linear and standard. The jig is up on occasion when albums of this kind move solely through tried-and-true motions. As it so happens, such is not the case for the solo artist Xythlia, piloted by multi-project-leading Nick Stanger. Having applied himself previously to the realms of black metal and progressive metal, it seems as though the fleeting, chaotic nature of grind emerged as his next conquest. Whereas previous releases were buoyed by atmosphere,
Immortality Through Quantum Suicide—about as tech-death as a title can get—discards mostly all ambiance in favor of unbridled explorations in dissonant, fast-paced assaults. Sweeps galore, riffs sprint about, static erupts, the bass growls, a drum machine comically accelerates into incomprehensibility, and suitably-pissed shouts populate the duration of the disc. Simply put, the newest record by Stanger does all a grind album should do in theory, then endeavors to take that extra step.
In saying all of this, however, it should be stated that Xythlia isn’t reinventing the kitchen appliance here; fans of the delightful, disordered escapes described earlier will be right at home here. Packed into a concise 23-minute duration,
Immortality… flourishes amongst a sonic output dependent on abrasive heaviness combined with quick tempos. Look no further than introductory number “Death Unyielding” for an immediate assurance that what follows will definitely possess a punch. A barrage of chugging and a squealing guitar appear instantaneously, the snarl of the bass lurking in the background. This entry point collapses into a tempo ramp-up prompted by the emergence of Stanger’s commanding harsh vocals. A sustained melodic note rings out above the bedlam, gradually decaying as the chugs return and bear their weight down. The tune accomplishes a great many shifts in just over a minute, fostering a landscape of disorienting technicality without drifting too far off into its crazed aesthetic. Serving an identical purpose is “Tachyon Malnourishment,” which similarly puts a series of menacing, crunching guitars at the forefront before unleashing a swirling technical riff, the pace of the song increasing to match the newfound intensity. A sudden breakdown interrupts the proceedings in the closing seconds to memorably cap off the runtime. Later down the line comes the thunderous opening of “Flesh Prison,” the percussion emitting nothing but static as sweeps dominate. Death metal is injected into the formula as a darkened arpeggio bursts forth—only to decompose into syncopated chugs, which in term dissolve into a tornado of discordant guitars. Any appreciators of no-nonsense riffage plunged into cacophony are free to mosh accordingly to Xythlia’s coarse style.
Stanger is dedicated to making Xythlia’s initial run a bit more special. A great amount of care is pledged towards ensuring his foot isn’t held captive by the gas pedal. As numerous as those grind-centric adventures are, they coexist alongside numbers that diverge from normalcy in some manner. These alterations range from the simple action of inserting a restrained section in “To Defy Inevitability”—an unexpected reprieve from the action that pays off in a flurry of technical guitar work—to the slowed composition of “Ablation of Subconscious.” At the heart of the track is a crushing, sludgy riff propped up by the threatening growl of the bass. The further the song progresses, the louder and more imposing the darkened passage becomes, Stanger’s impressive roar cracking through the mix as the noise reaches a peak. Concluding song “Fester in the Nether” attempts to coalesce the momentary calm of “To Defy Inevitability” alongside the more ferocious portions of the record. Ominous strumming builds a mysterious aura around the track as it accrues momentum, the first half of the creation serving as a springboard into a dissonant lead riff, the ensuing onslaught of rhythmic changes feeling right at home on a technical death metal LP. Multiple progressions are encountered at a rapid pace as if the very world were spinning at the same rate, bounding from one tech-tinged riff to the next, stopping and starting whenever felt necessary, before charging headfirst into a cascade of slides that unceremoniously terminate the disc. The crushing finale leaves little room to recover once it fires off, and its ending remains comparably violent.
These efforts to break up the typical practice of grind bleed into accompanying tunes, allowing for an experience where separate leads can be remembered distinctly as well as particular moments. Very rarely does
Immortality… offer solace from its constant barrage of shredding grind riffs packaged in a tech-death sort of presentation. Grooves are abound thanks to the appearance of the bass; its presence in the production remains relatively subtle, but strong enough to enhance each track. Time is allotted equally such that grind and death metal cohabit, the two genres cooperating to diversify the disc and thus contribute to its highlights. The fury of “Schrodinger’s Foreskin” wouldn’t be properly realized when just pushed through the category of one or the other, instead owing its success to bombastic instrumental displays, punishing speed, and effective arrangements taken from both fields. Given cuts off of the album are guaranteed to perform developments that either make an upfront barrage more entertaining or transform a formation into something beyond average bandcamp ventures; a simplistic, direct product is not to be found here. Perhaps, in that objective to differentiate, Stanger decided to include interlude tracks as he did, but their purpose seems unclear outside of the mood-setting “Antidream”—they generally function as lead-ins to tunes that already feature robust intros. Beyond these types of nitpicks, Xythlia exhibits promise as yet another avenue for a very active artist. Whatever the next stage for this novel outlet is, it already possesses the task of surpassing an excellent debut. Moving past the drum machine would be an ideal starting point to finally surpass the blender.
