A gas masked psychopath on the front and zombie like nuns on the back means that this is about to be a full frontal tympanic membrane carnage. Meta-Stasis is composed of members from Ted Maul and Sikth. It is very apparent that this release bears very little resemblance to those acts, this being a far more brutal and assaulting affair. After the intro it is straight into “Demon Barber Surgeon” and clearly this band is intent on brutalising the listener with savage beats and caustic riffs that could shatter bullet proof glass. The bands riffing style is chug based which doesn’t mean it is purely deathcore, metalcore or djent or whatever sub-genre bastardisation you have in mind. The song is securely held in brutal death metal but the bands penchant for experimentation in their tunes is where Ted Maul and Sikth might come to mind.

There is a tendency for the songs to use double kicks that match the riffs which is in itself is a djent trait. “Space Occupying Lesion” has chaotic riffing balanced by copious amounts of double bass as the vocals switch from one venomous style to another. The density of this song really is crushing as the lead is slightly atypical for this style. Some synths and effects greet you on “Ways Of The Wise” as here I was reminded of Xerath for the technical bounce. The interlude like “Absence  Of The Corpus Luteum” has a mix of synths and bass. The drums are in the background which makes “Both Sides Of The River” that more vicious when it blasts into life. In places the rhythms are similar to Cerebral Bore’s intensity and melody as here there is a definite djent style. The brutal complexity of “Misery Defined” has a level of intensity that bands like The Project Hate and Brain Drill put on their albums. There are some good drops in pace that create nice variety as another interlude like song, “Dissolved And Diluted” which morphs into “Vascular Deficit”. A technically gifted song that brings thoughts of acts like Obscura and Necrophagist, especially on “We All Must Die”. The album closes with “Frank The Body Snatcher” and starts with a violent riff frenzy and comes across as a more straight death metal tune. However Meta-Stasis are never happy to stay within the parameters of pure death metal, instead the band injects technical outbursts that will keep technical death metal fans very interested indeed.

(7/10 Martin Harris) 

http://www.myspace.com/metastasis666