The phrase "biblically accurate angel" makes NO sense! The cover art displays some sort of mechanical, vaguely reptilian thing with sharp teeth, tentacles and a strange green aura around it. In space. Point is, I can't tell what exactly I'm looking at. When I heard the pseudo-melodic sweep around 1:16 on the opener "The Aftermath", it felt majestic, awe-inspiring, even heavenly. Depending on your attitude towards modern tech death, you'd probably hype Origin as face-melting or dismiss it as robotic; I doubt you'd describe the band as having emotion, let alone call them majestic or heavenly. Realizing that disconnect and looking at the album cover, I couldn't help but make the association with "biblically accurate" angels. The ones wrapped in six wings so that their fiery bodies don't burn everything around, or the other ones made of crossed rings covered in eyeballs - those angels. However , "biblically accurate" makes no ...

That face might be goofy, but be honest, if you saw this in the night sky, you'd shit your pants. Origin really likes its space aesthetic. Paul Ryan will be the first to tell you sound doesn't spread in vacuum, so any presentation of space through music has to be figurative. One would think synths, drawn out chords, lots of reverb, and overall serenity do a very convincing outer space impression. But these are not musical qualities characteristic of death metal, especially technical death metal,  are they? The opener "Reciprocal" meets me with breakneck pace right out of the gate, with no signs of slowing down, and obscene amount barks and shrieks, from three vocalists. How easy is it to imagine I'm in space? Quite easy actually. Intensity - the amount of notes per second, amount of riffs per song and sheer relentlessness stand for the extreme conditions in space. The massive temperature disparity between parts of the listener's metaphorical spaceship illumin...

It's cliched AND dishonest to summarize the evolution of metal as "faster and heavier" when you remember that genres other than death and black metal exist. However, I think it's an interesting case study to observe the parallels in how non-metalheads view metal in general, vs how fans of oldschool death metal view newer takes on the genre. The music becomes less accessible and narrows its audience as it starts to follow fewer and fewer music "rules", such as the tension-release principle, dynamics, or some kind of repetition to establish a structure. Death metallers who like the oldschool sound, but not brutal or technical death metal, usually criticize the latter for lacking breathing room, therefore becoming grating to listen to very quickly. Of course, one can enjoy both, but many fans draw a line. Funnily enough, non-metalheads have the same perception of any death metal (and probably can't tell the difference between its subgenres), hell, even man...

This is my personal blog, where I try to offer a new perspective in reviews of niche music, essays related to the perception of said music or culture around it, essays related to my other interests, and stream of consciousness posts that I'd feel dishonest to call essays. The music posts I also share on a few relevant sites such as the Metal Archives and Rate Your Music, linking them back to the blog. As someone who doesn't relate to a lot of common human experiences and desires, and doesn't feel like a part of any group (or identify with anyone else who is alienated) I believe I can offer unique "outsider" views. The blog itself isn't important, it's just a place to gather all my writing. My real goal is to have thoughtful criticism available right next to an album's page - whoever cares and already researches music will find it on their own; certainly no one guided  me  to where I am now. The person behind this blog doesn't matter, and I don'...