Hey there tech-fiends, it's time once again to impart some malevolent-yet-masterful music to all you who read this column each week. I've got two recent and lesser known releases to share with you today. For those joining us for the first time, this is a new weekly series here at Metal-Injection focused around exploring the obscure depths and up-and-coming talent dwelling within the realm of technical death metal. If you like what you hear below, previous installments of this series can be viewed here.
Disillusionment- The Grand Illusion
I remember when Black Crown Initiate first came to the metal world's collective attention out of nowhere with Song Of The Crippled Bull in 2013. It was a release that made you stop and realize that these guys were on to something special so pay attention! I see this same parallel arising with Michigan based act Disillusionment. They just dropped a over 10 minute long single called "The Grand Illusion", and its a progressive minded songwriting journey married to technical death metal and black metal moments in a very dense and intriguing way. There are enough movements and unique parts within "The Grand Illusion" that it really feels like a epic suite composed of many contrasting parts than just a mere typical single song. Rarely if ever have I been this blown away by a single song release. And the big reason I'm featuring them here is because they already plan to release a full-length next year. So get on the hype train early, and get your mind blown after a single play of "The Grand Illusion". Then go back and jam it endlessly because it really is that damn good and jaw-dropping. Also, it's a free download, so grab that shit!
The Grand Illusion (2015 Demo) by Disillusionment
Eye Of Minerva-Blackened Kingdom Forged In Flame
Now that we've covered tech-death of a more proggy persuasion with Disillusionment, let's move onto the uglier and more demented side of the genre with Eye Of Minerva. I've been following Denver, Colorado based act Eye Of Minerva for awhile now, though I somehow slipped up and didn't see that their new record, Blackened Kingdom Forged In Flame, came out on October 3rd. But ever since I caught wind of it a few weeks ago, I've been enthralled by the monstrous storm of chaos each track on the record consists of. This is balls-to-the-walls technical death metal that hits you like a bad car wreck or stepping on several land mines. Blackened Kingdom Forged In Flame merges the maximum speed, maximum brutality framework of bands like Internal Suffering and Cryptopsy, and melds that to a spastic hyper-technical focus akin to Origin and Cephalic Carnage.
Every time I put this on I start to envision all the awful and horrific things that it reminds me of like catastrophic train wrecks and endless apocalyptic carnage. Eye Of Minerva do an excellent job at putting a lot of thought and attention into the rhythm guitar-work and riffs in a way totally different than modern technical death metal. While there are flashy guitar leads and laser-fast sweeps throughout, it's never overdone and always just popping in for a second to up the intensity of the music or used to change gears with. Blackened Kingdom Forged In Flame is an energetic sonic rush that has a certain vitality and human feeling to it that a lot of more soulless and generic tech-death totally lacks. Authentic horror and hatred never sounded so good. Blackened Kingdom Forged In Flame can be purchased in cd or digital format here. But it's not on bandcamp at this time just as a heads up.
