A little while ago, I negatively reviewed a new tech death "supergroup", Equipoise. That particular review actually drew some attention when the band themselves posted it on their Facebook page. I wasn't "brigaded" per se since pretty much none of them actually commented here or tried to track down my personal info or anything, but I did watch from afar as a few dozen people took turns dunking on me for not liking a tech death album for being too techy, ragging on my crack about it having "no hooks", joking about how "hearing the bass" must be a negative for me, "he must've wanted nu metal", et cetera et cetera. It's all good, I've been doing this for like twelve years now so I'm quite used to people thinking I'm an idiot, but I can't help but feel like a lot of those guys kinda missed the point of what I was saying (as if Origin's Antithesis isn't hooky as fuck while being simultaneously maximum overtech).
So to contrast, here's a tech death album that's loaded with technicality, has a loud and active bassist, and, most importantly, is crammed with hooks and absolutely kicks ass as a result. And for an added bonus, Vale of Pnath here is even one of the bands connected to Equipoise's hugely impressive pedigree as well (granted it's only through the vocalist, who isn't featured on this EP, but the connection is there nonetheless).
The biggest difference between Demiurgus and Accursed here is that the former was a group of seven extremely talented guys who felt like they were playing three different songs at once, all desperately trying to out-solo each other with neverending musical pyrotechnics on an hour long whirlwind nightmare. The latter, on the other hand, is equally mindbending in its technicality, but it's constructed in a way where everything coalesces into a pummeling tour-de-force with some real semblance of restraint and nuance. Not every single attosecond is crammed with four simultaneous guitar solos. Instead, Vale of Pnath builds upon a foundation of hyperspeed riffs with scorching, diabolical atmosphere, and the fretboard theatrics and panging bass are window dressing accentuating the building blocks of great music.
There's an almost black metally undercurrent on Accursed, presenting itself as an exceedingly atmospheric record with a shitload of tremolo melodies and blast beats, with lots of subtle synths and industrial grinding. Oftentimes the metal portions of the songs will drop out entirely for a few seconds to give the listener some time to breathe and for the atmosphere to settle across the landscape before thunderous riffage crashes through the tension and decimates everything within earshot. The focus here is on these devastating riffs and the indomitable adrenaline that fuels them, to the point that the band never feels like they're showing off. You want to know what hooks sound like in tech death? They sound like the "Black Dahlia Murder on meth" spasticity of the title track, or the caustic chugging quasi-breakdowns that pepper "Skin Turned Soil", or the straightfoward bludgeoning sections of "Spectre of Bone", hell even the smatterings of djent in between the Neuraxis-styled ferocity in "Obsidian Realm" are fucking spine shattering. These are what hooks in tech death sound like, they sound like the moments that don't completely eschew the second half of their nomenclature. Overwhelming technicality is fine, but if it isn't grounded or broken up with punishing beatdowns of savage barbarism, it's going to wind up being a mess of weedling frivolousness.
Granted, Accursed isn't a perfect release. It does most things right, for sure. The riffs are destructive and the atmosphere is sublime, but it's undeniably pretty samey. There are only five full songs that aren't interludes on this EP, and the first three all sound pretty identical to one another ("Skin Turned Soil" and "Accursed" even have the exact same runtime), and while "Obsidian Realm" and "Spectre of Bone" are a bit more dynamic in presentation, they act more as a worthwhile climax after a consistent-yet-samey start. Regardless, this is a fantastic EP worth any fan of the style's time.
RATING: 85%
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