Review Summary: Dare I say ... funky?
Meticulous, methodical, relentless mechanistic butchery throughout every aspect of the instrumentation and build-up: such are the ways of closer 'Död Jord' on Soreption's fourth full-length album. Very much the same description goes for the seven preceding tracks on this thirty-minute (!) offering of no-nonsense tech death mayhem by the Swedish quartet. But the guest guitar leads by Archspire's Dean Lamb and Tobi Morelli in 'Död Jord' - the microsurgical vibe of which, I would imagine, pays homage to Thorendal and Jarzombek - provide for a quick bridge to useful, if somewhat lazy musical generalization. In terms of comparison with other contemporary bands, the overall aesthetic or blueprint adopted in this album, more so than in previous efforts, seems to be a combination of the 'machine approach' as presently exemplified in its most extreme form by Canadian peers Archspire, and the groove-oriented perfectionism of Psycroptic. (Joe Haley, incidentally, also has a guest lead spot on the album.) This stylistic-typological comparison serves analytical purposes only. Soreption have their own design, where these combined ingredients are vehicle to a series of very infectious mood pieces, set in a thoroughly percussive and bass-driven environment that breathes menace and excitement in equal measure, courtesy of the interplay between insane guitar work and punishing vocals.
Even then, so far nothing much is new in the land of tech death. But if combining all the genre tropes and elements at your disposal in just the right proportion for maximum effect is the main requirement for cooking together tasteful songs, then our chefs have definitely nailed the pudding on this occasion.
Jord is immediate and intense. From the first seconds of opener 'The Artificial North' onwards, Soreption continuously hit the listener with pretty much every hook and twist there is, at once. Keywords to describe the resulting rollercoaster have already been mentioned; let me just stress 'meticulous', 'groove' and 'infectious' again, in no particular order. Songs are consistently catchy to the point of being downright funky. 'Each Death More Hollow' and 'The Nether Realm's Machinery', for instance, are bound to get those frowned heads bobbing with lips pouting; whereas tracks like 'A Story Never Told' are also about those sweet spots where pinched and natural string harmonics can still be thrown in to great effect (let's be honest, you didn't think there'd be any of those spots left did you?). The riffing and fretboard work in general, as complemented by the rhythm section, is lethal.
The abridged version?
Jord is undoubtedly Soreption at their best, and I would be surprised not to see them outgrowing their underdog position in the current tech death scene after this album. In any case, if you are anywhere near into the genre you won't regret spending your next half hour listening to
Jord.
