A riveting mix of progressive and technical death metal, A Selfish Dream is one of those releases which may not have you falling back in love with the genres breeding it but certainly inspires a new appetite to go exploring them and the inspirations to the project such as Death, Cynic, Atheist, and Carcass. The new EP from LA based band The Replicate, it is a brief imagination stroking, ear striking proposal as unpredictable as it is highly enjoyable.
The Replicate is the brainchild of Sandesh Nagaraj whose CV includes being part of nineties Indian death metallers Myndsnare, Extinct Reflections, and Stranglehold. Uniting with a host of friends for his project, guitarist/bassist Nagaraj needs little time to grab the imagination and keen attention with A Selfish Dream, its opening track casting a web of sonic and technical temptation.
Chainsaw Of God instantly wraps a spicy groove around ears, a persistent lure soon joined by a canter of robust rhythms and the raw throated rasps of guest vocalist/lyricist Morgan Wells. His irritable yet compelling tones stand astride the driving beats of Ray Rojo and Nagaraj’s nagging riffs. It is a tenaciously magnetic affair especially when grooves with clinging spice entwine the impassioned ire of the track and a solo from William Von Arx which brings an almost sinister cosmic shade to the outstanding track.
The following Eugenicide has its own suggestive drama in sound and presence, grooves again evocatively wrapping the senses with an almost picturesque quality as the predacious gravelly tones of vocalist Jordan Nalley trespass ears with his rich words. Also featuring the dark alluring basslines of Kaitie Sly, the track is an absorbing, haunting assault as different in nature and captivating enterprise to its predecessor as it is similar in compelling invention.
A rawer edge and climate descends through The Saline next, its initial sonic intrusion the spark to another virulent canter twisted into a passage of varying energies and unpredictable imagination. Arun Natrajan takes on vocals and lyrics for the EP’s third song; he also providing a rapacious growl within a controlled yet tempestuous surge of enmity and corrosive yet inviting sound.
Completed by the short instrumental of its title track, a shimmering piece of emotional starkness, A Selfish Dream is as gripping as it is imposingly intrusive. Its briefness of length is the only niggle, each song successfully never pushing its stay but combined providing a mere ten minutes of excellence; a moment in time admittedly very easy to replay and en joy time and time again.
A Selfish Dream is out now @ https://thereplicate.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/thereplicateband
Pete RingMaster 18/01/2017
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Lurker steps up next, again with an opening which demands attention. This time the invitation is a threatening collusion of sound and texture, almost asylum like in its tone and vocal cries. Framing the drama, drummer Jasper Brownlow and bassist Adam McGuinness again place wonderfully grouchy bait which only finds greater impact as a thrash bred surge of riffs and energy erupts. As its predecessor, the song also flows through intensive and slower predacious moments to keep expectations on their toes, especially the almost theatrical passage of the lyrical protagonist’s introspection which comes forward.
backed by the thunderous and turbulent assault of rhythms. Lorded over by the dark coated cavernously toned growls of Luiz, the track is a mix of predacious stalking and rabid intent. It is a rather compelling proposition gaining greater strength of persuasion across its length, imposing sonically and in success as its narrative courts the craft and blood-fests of cinematic gore/cult b-movie movie pioneers like Herschell Gordon Lewis, Ed Wood, and Roger Corman.
The band’s name and indeed that of its members, in vocalist Dr. Stink, guitarists Horace Bones and Ed The Dead, bassist Purgy, and drummer Dr Freudstein, alone provide colourful and mischievous bait, a lure instantly backed by their first track Motel Hell. There is thrash bred ferocity to the charge and hostility of the song, energy and creative adventure which is as psychotic as it is groove infectious. The vocals equally have a character and captivating rabidity to them which only ignites ears and enjoyment, bringing a chunk of the originality which revolves within an accomplished if familiar template of sound.
metal. Both Offal and Zombie Cookbook could be looking at infiltrating the broadest spotlights sometime soon too, especially if they continue uncaging beasts like those on their shared offering.
knees. It also comes with a passions binding groove which from its first breath grinds and worms deeply into the psyche as rhythms cascade voraciously down on the senses. Complete with the barbarous rancor of Hadden’s throat and the nagging contempt of the bass, it is an irresistible blast of insidious feuding which ignites appetite and passions just as forcibly as the album itself.
their lilt search the ears. Their touch is acidic yet powerfully enticing as they scrub the senses insisting on attention as the rhythmic acrobatics of drummer Jonathan Persson, already wholly impressive, pounce dramatically behind the song’s addictive call. It is a rich and strong entrance to the song, instantly contagious and expressive in its melodic narrative and emotive crafting. A swift kick in of rapacious energy and malevolent intensiveness takes the enticement into new domains of intimidating and invention with the rasping caustic tones of vocalist Nima Farhadian L. offering a ripe and pungent menace which borders hostility whilst the sonic design sculpted by the guitars of Andreas Lindström and Alex Wijkman bring a simultaneous bewitching and intrusiveness. The track, much like the album, needs time and numerous plays to unveil its depths and incontestable persuasion, its presence demanding and greedy on the senses but with a vast expanse of imagination and bold adventure the song eventually proves itself to be an exhausting but immense start. At near on nine minutes the first track does push its limits like a few subsequent tracks with its length, the surface engagement an overwhelming merciless want on the listener but again given the time mentioned it convinces all is as it should be.
uncages Fertile Steps first to leap upon and savage the senses. The opening breath of the song is an antagonistic brawl and things only intensify as rhythms punch and slap with merciless and spite whilst riffs grind out insidious grooves around the impressive varied venomous squalls of Strope. From the first minute of his appearance the vocalist impresses and leaves ears as hungry for his destructive narrative as the carnivorous sounds around him. The track itself has a definite Slipknot meets Carcass feel at times but also with an unrelenting drench of Pig Destroyer saliva soaking the results.
The Last Man On Earth is one of those malevolent pestilences which rather than run and hide from its toxic virulence you just have to dive head first into the exhaustingly inventive depths of melodic blackened death metal. The debut album from UK metallers Morgue Orgy, it is a toxic torrent of maliciousness fuelled by a rabid expanse of intensively magnetic flavours and styles from within a brutally predatory imagination. It is mischievously psychotic, rampantly schizophrenic, and masterfully vicious and one of the most tempting rages of extreme sonic violations to come from the British Isles in quite a long while.
you can suggest is barely alive in melodic death metal elsewhere. As soon as the opener They Came From Outer Space hits the ear senses and imagination are swiped into action by band and sound. Lively classically bred keys embrace the ears at first whilst a warning buzzer makes a call of impending menace. It is an instant coaxing which suggests numerous possible paths ahead which the album may take without revealing which initially. The gothic breath of the entrance is the predominate lure but one which offers an Adams Family meets Cradle Of Filth like tease before the track reveals itself fully. That is does with thunder rich rhythms and rampaging riffs stalked by a female spoken narrative. Again it is mere hinting until the song settles into a delicious stomp of tantalising sonic revelry and urgent intensity which in turn soon evolves into a melodramatic gothic waltz. Barely two minutes in and a canvas of multiple textures and hues have been laid to intrigue and disorientate. This is the way of the song, and album from start to finish, and one reason why both are thoroughly riveting. Halfway in and the vocals of Gray, backed by those of keyboardist Carter, savage air and emotions with an expected but again varied and eventful poisonous attack. It is a mighty introduction to the album soon backed up and at times surpassed ahead.
beckoning in metal it seems, before being thrust aside by the outstanding Land Of Cunning. Riffs and rhythms are assaulting the ears from its first seconds whilst a stringent groove twists the senses around its bony fingers. A persistent repetitive lure marks the track deliciously whilst the vocals of Liuni make a compelling varied persuasion with a snarl and twang to his delivery that only draws in further an already emerging appetite to match the strength of the charging sounds around him. There is little which is unsurprising or new to the attack but it matters little as the track niggles and erodes defences with skill and venomous intent. As anthemic as a stripper leading karaoke night, it is a mighty start with only its quite hefty length being a slight complaint, something which does grows to more of annoyance across other song as some feel unnecessarily stretched.
