ARCHSPIRE Relentless Mutation CD (2017)

There are fast bands, and then there is Archspire, a Vancouver outfit that plays technical death metal like the genre personally wronged them. Relentless Mutation from 2017 is the record that made extreme metal people stop mid-sentence to ask what they were listening to.

The hyper-speed syllabic vocal delivery alone redefined what was considered possible in tech-death, and the riffs underneath it are not just filler between blastbeats. They are genuinely constructed, disorienting in the best way, the kind of record that rewards repeat listens even when each one leaves you slightly exhausted. This sits comfortably alongside the best the Canadian death metal scene has produced, and that is a very high bar. Essential for anyone serious about the darker, heavier end of the alternative spectrum.

Full length album on CD, 2017 Canadian release.

Fans of: Beyond Creation, Obscura, Soreption