Review Summary: Heavy, Fast, Harmonic, Technical and Completely Instrumental. Holy Crap!!! its good
'Woah', my first thoughts as the opening riffs rip from my speakers, destroying my ear drums in head banging desolation. This is heavy, fast and is always ready to attack. I was tempted to this release by my background interest in post-rock/metal and other instrumental pieces as well as staying true to my affection for highly technical mix of melodic death and technical trash. Although, I had expected a more Pelican-esque record, ie atmospheric sludge, as the only label I had seen slapped on this band was instrumental metal. Yet what I expected and what I received were fields apart. This is not to say that’s a bad thing, matter of fact this album is fantastic. Those who are fans of technical death bands such as Arsis will love this 3-guitar assault into instrumental metal. No bass is required in this outfit and it’s hardly noticeable anyway, besides they don't need one, the extra guitar adds all the harmonies in the right places.
The first track Neckwrecker is just that. The riffs are heavy, deep and invite one to indulge in some neck wrecking (head banging) if they wish too. It serves as a great intro to the 57 minute long destruction that awaits the listener. Charmony too is a great track, the soloing guitars are viscous, destructive, beautiful and they seem effortless. The Right to Arm Bears is another favourite, but Eye Patch Romance really takes the proverbial cake on this record. The lead guitar echoes nicely and when the 2nd and 3rd join in, the harmony the 3 guitars create is unsurpassable. Beautiful music, played brilliantly.
This is a full-on assault album, tech-death, with glimpse of prog and completely instrumental, the only band I can acknowledge that truly does this kind of music. On the plus side, it’s heavy, riff-filled and neck wreckingly apocalyptic. However it leans greatly towards being repetitive and you can be forgiven for thinking "Hey, I think I already heard that riff' but that’s only a small complaint and I dug deep to find it. Those who love a bit of tech death metal but can’t stand the vocals will be welcome with open arms. However I can in-vision others who would say the band can benefit from a vocalist, personally I don’t see the need. I was drawn to this band from a completely instrumental view-point, I had never heard this kind of music done before and the resulting sonic demolition was a refreshing change. It’s a hard album to find, but rewarding for those who do. Check it out.
