HARDWARES

Man, I was bummed when I read this band was lyrically inspired by Lovecraft (I think I literally fell asleep after reading that sentence, no joke), but this is no fluffy power metal or even rote death metal. Instead, these young pups from Vancouver do an amazing job of recapturing the vibe of classic death metal—MORBID ANGEL, OBITUARY, even cool crap like SADUS springs to mind. Some songs, like the insanely titled ‘Talisman For Total Temporal Collapse’ bring more grind to the table, in a very unhinged way that recalls KATAKLYSM’s mighty Temple Of Knowledge album. The production is raw, demo-quality but it’s not a hindrance; it’s actually refreshing given the last thing I listened to before this was an ultra-produced technical death metal album which now sounds a bit ridiculous in hindsight. Technical death metal in general seems absurd when dealing with the majesty of pure old-school death metal (laced with grind edges, that is), when it comes down to it. But this is no caveman shit, AUROCH able to lay down technical parts when the time comes. This band is doing nothing you haven’t heard many, many times before. But they’re solid, they clearly love the genre, and they don’t get bogged down in some of the trappings that death bands can so easily get lost in. Pleasantly surprised with this one: this is a band death metal fans are going to want to keep their ears and eyes on.