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How all TDM should be - 100%

shantanupatni1991, February 20th, 2009

Technical death metal can be broadly classified into two types; one, where the “death” dominates while the other being where the jazz influences govern the sound and the technical aspects override song construction. Number of bands playing the former is definitely much more. This band contributes to the latter category, and one couldn’t have imagined or asked for a better auxiliary.

This is the German outfit’s first full length entitled “Retribution”, and I can assure you that these young shoulders definitely have a wise head. Very rarely we see such maturity and petulance. This sensational achievement comprises 10 songs and a cover of Death’s “Lack of Comprehension”, amounting to about 45 minutes of music. They take Death’s style of complex transitional passages & melodic guitar work, add Cynic’s professionalism & jazz influences, give it its fair share of Cryprtopsy’s brutality, and create a masterpiece in the genre.

Despite entering the scene at a time when experimentations in music has been already been pushed beyond the limit, this band manages to make a mark. Unlike the Gorguts album the band named itself after; the vocals don’t ruin the music.

The bass guitars don’t blindly obey the guitars, which is of course something all of us always prefer but rarely get. Guitar work, as I mentioned, is melodic and memorable. The drumming snakes and whirls around as much as the guitars and bass do. A lot of stop/start double kick action and other complex stuff can be heard while the randomly shat out monotonous blast beat is avoided to a large extent. It is diversified and the kind that helps the album's re-playability and longevity.