This album is a “thematic quest for transcendence” is about the “consequence of being”, so plenty to get our teeth into there. Reaping Asmodeia isn’t a band I knew about previously but I have established that they have been in existence for 8 years, have released a couple of albums previously and play something in order of deathcore or technical metal.
The Martians have landed and like death metal. That’s what I thought when I heard the skittish “Epoch of Choler”. Twisting and turning, stopping and starting, thunderous and mysterious, Reaping Asmodeia light up the sky with smoke and death metal fire. Fast and hard and a bit djenty, and with a vocalist growling, hissing and echoing, “False Awakening” continues in the same stop – start vein. It’s exciting, and gong along at such a pace that there’s no time to think. These guys love to mix it all up with changes of tempo, descents into darkness, guitar solos and passages which suggest that they want to be dismembering people. The tech death assault continues with “Simulacra”. Pure animosity meets technical riffage and deep, pungent guitar work. The album is punctuated by short fillers, which don’t do a lot for me, but I did like the colour of “Shadow Lag”. I imagine also that in a live setting it would give the band a chance to get their breath back. This isn’t sit-back-and-play stuff. It’s full-on, technical, complex and mobile. “Dreamcaster” is almost a conventional song but inevitably full of twists and turns. More for me was the flesh-shredding, meandering “The Forge of Moira”, which takes off in all bewildering directions right through to its final apocalyptic passage. If variety is the key, Reaping Asmodeia demonstrate plenty of it. After starting as an ominous march, “Switching Shadows” reverts to type and bursts into twisty, gut-wrenching technical death metal. Ending with a spot of horror, it leads us into “Oneironautic Oblivion”, possibly the most anarchic song so far with its brutal death undertones, hints of melody, lofty technical guitar work and constant menace. Terrific and very creative. Ah, “The Consequence of Being”. It’s the message and a song title. The song is a final, rapid-fire blast. Drums pound as usual, heaviness prevails, everyone’s blood pressure goes up, and vocalists growl angrily. Fin.
The theme of all this passed me by, I must say, but if there’s one thing that this technical-inclined, broken death metal did suggest, it was struggle. I enjoyed listened to “Darkened Infinity”. There’s plenty of energy and interest here.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
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