Tech Death has played a pretty important role in my life these past few years. It’s a genre which has really helped broaden my musical horizons into Prog, Classic Rock, Jazz influence and much more. It really is quite a hippy-like, ‘free’ genre that seems to praise oddity rather than brand it as unclean. Not to mention the fact that often there is a great deal of overlap. Djent for example is a genre I’m not often one to touch, but again it seems well linked to Tech Death and indeed it’s notions like this which have broken down my Metal elitism.
Anyway enough of my theorising, let’s get to some reviewing. So, today we head to France and the rising stars of Tech Death Fractal Universe. Formed in 2013 the band would later go on to record an EP in 2015 called Boundaries Of Reality, and then a debut full length in 2017 called Engram Of Decline. However, in 2019 the band hit the big time with a signing to Metal Blade Records for Rhizomes Of Insanity their second full length. Now in 2021 and again through Metal Blade we get The Impassable Horizon. A hurdle for the band in that all important third release, but is their Tech good enough to match the underground?
Opening the album is a flurry of Tech Death, the pummelling drums and sweeping guitars of Autopoiesis. I have to say I do actually miss a bit of an intro song for an album which appears so epic. The harsh vocals drop and whilst good they are very modern, if you don’t like modern Metal vocals you’ll be at a loss here. The clean vocals are inoffensive, but nowhere near melodic enough for my tastes. A Clockwork Expectation brings in the now all too familiar Rivers Of Nihil inspired saxophone moment, highly predictable. Symmetrical Masquerade feels far more suited to Fractal Universe, ethereal clean vocals, better harsh vocals, interesting riffs and generally some more unique songwriting.
After the more underwhelming Fall Of The Earth it’s into Withering Snowdrops. I like some of the guitar work in this song but the vocals again are a bit too on the modern side for me. I’ve heard bigger and better Tech Death of this ilk before that’s for sure. Our old friend the saxophone also makes another appearance, please guys, no more. Clearly that message didn’t get through, more sax in Black Sails Of Melancholia, it isn’t bad or anything it’s just such a rip of Rivers that it hurts me. To be honest by A Cosmological Arch I’m a bit done, the guitars continue to be strong but I wouldn’t say it’s anything mind blowing. I’m all about excess and this album feels very bland for modern Tech Death. Then to add to that is Godless Machinists, over eight minutes and far too late in the game to win me back. There really is no need to continue after that song either, but then again here comes Flashes Of Potentialities, or should that be flashes of pointlessness?
For an album crammed with material would it not have been better to have some interlude style tracks? This kind of Tech Death demands it and really I think this record is a case of quantity over quality. For sure there are some strong moments and almost all of the musicianship is very good, production is nice and so on. However, that doesn’t detract from the fact that this is about as bog standard a Tech Death release as you’ll ever find, at least in a modern sense. Stick with Cult Of Lilith they’re much better, a far better representation of the Tech Death scene (and also on Metal Blade).
(5/10 George Caley)
Leave a Reply