REPLICANT - Malignant Reality
Transcending Obscurity Records
There's that feeling you get whenever hearing a new band and they remind you of someone else. But you just can't come up with the other band's name. When I first listened to this release the feeling of being dumbfounded went on till about the halfway point of it's play through. That's when I finally gave in and read the PR info on the band. Of course that's when you wanna smack yourself upside the head and go "Duh"?
So for the record this is the second full length by REPLICANT a three piece act who hail from the great state of New Jersey. I say great state because I was born there. I left there when I was 12 but hey according to many people I still retain some of the accent. And I still call people "Douche-Bags". Be that as it may REPLICANT's sound / style is rooted in the early days of tech death. But instead of repeating the US variety, these guys take their cues from beyond US shores.
I won't spoil ya with name dropping past greats. But if you want your conservative metal mind blown to bits then check out "The Ubiquity of Time". It's an eight plus minute opus of jazz influence, dissonant atmosphere, feedback, violin and groove laden death metal. Sure they left that till the end because the rest of the album blows away your conformity to the genre.
But seriously Malignant Reality leaves no doubts to what they're all about with shocker opener "Caverns of Insipid Reflection". If it wasn't for my appreciation of some older tech death bands hailing from places like Quebec, Finland and France then I might've past on this. I never cared for what tech death later turned into which for me was music for those addled with ADD.
REPLICANT are far from that hideous style. And despite what their name might suggest they're not copycats. You can take an old style of music, learn it well and then progress onward as if it's your own. The bonus points are that they nail the angular riffs. The whimsical bass lines flow in well on certain cuts. The vocals are just as tortured as their guitar strings. Finally their songwriting is compelling enough to keep you glued. Great stuff.
LISTEN HERE:
https://replicantband.bandcamp.com/album/malignant-reality-dissonant-death-metal
No comments:
Post a Comment