Hey there tech-fiends. It's that day of the week again, and I've got something extra special and exclusive in store for today's edition. But before we get to that, I wanted to share a link to the Omnihility stream I helped air yesterday here at Metal-Injection. Mainly because its some sweet tech-death, but also just in case anyone missed it. On today's agenda we've got an early full stream of the new Spheron record, A Clockwork Universe. A few days ahead of its official release this Friday, February 26th through Apostasy Records. While I don't want to give too much away, next week's edition of this column will likewise be centered around an early album stream. So be sure to stay tuned for that as well! If you like what you hear and want to catch up on prior editions of this series, you can do so here.
Now we can move on to today's centerpiece, the fantastic new sophomore full-length A Clockwork Universe by German tech wizards Spheron. Some of you may be familiar with the band since they made a solid splash in the tech-death scene in 2013 with their debut, Ecstasy Of God. If you're just learning of them for the first time, Spheron take an almost deconstructionist approach to technical death metal. Stripping and re-assembling facets of many different sounds in order to re-combine them in a way all their own. And damn do they do it well! I'd certainly consider A Clockwork Universe to be a solid evolution of the sound they were developing on Ecstasy Of God. While still maddening and mind-boggling, it further channels the progressive side of their sound and allows it to become a larger part of the identity of their sound now. Which means for instance, that there are some clean singing passages woven in from time to time. I personally can dig them, but even if that's not usually your thing, this is a record worth hearing from start to finish. If you like what you hear below, you can pre-order the record here or here.
https://soundcloud.com/apostasy-records/sets/spheron-a-clockwork-universe
