Some of the most intriguing technical death metal bands for the last half a decade now suffer from a too familiar syndrome – that of the crippling melody overdose. Even if we accept that it was the only path possible for musicians like Obscura, whose classical training made it impossible to remain in the doldrums of mere 'brutality', many followed the example of Decrepit Birth, sacrificing the unbearable heaviness only to focus on meaningless 'progressive' structures (or Wagnerian influences). It's worrying that bands now taking their first steps into the subgenre will immediately associate it with neo-classical solos and keyboard fills, instead of blastbeats and headcrushing, stereo-melting riffs and really start to run before they can stagger.Sure, there are people who celebrate this and the bands whose input backs it up; they say it’s wonderful for extreme metal to expand in new directions and, to some extent they're right, or at least entitled to believe they're right. Origin, however, must not do it. Sorry, they're just not allowed. No argument brooked.
Fortunately, the Kansas-based band also share this opinion and three years after the seismic ‘Antithesis’, they demonstrate their brand of inhuman technical precision once again. When this death metal machine erupted from nothing in 2008, ready to shoot off directly into outer space in search of extreme revolution after a few absolutely underrated releases, there appeared to be defects in space-time continuum and they reached the limit that physics would allow. That’s why there was no sense that Origin were able to beat their previous opus; expectations gravitated more around the optimistic wish that they keep the level steady. Programmed to create a chaotic eruption of cosmic might, after two minutes of shooting blindly with ‘Expulsion of Fury’, the quartet start their journey to perfection. Not that ‘Entity’ is a giant step forward, it just finds its creators doing better with more concentrated songwriting. This is well documented on the insanely brutal ‘Swarm’, which spews enormous riffs like machine gun. If you deem it necessary to find evolution through this genre, the discovery comes from the Voivodian saw-mill of ‘Commited’ while ‘Saliga’ could easily send Origin blasting, full thrust onto the cover of a sci-fi magazine. Indicative of the quality of ‘Entity’ is the fact that a composition with grindcore length (and even some elements of the genre), ‘Banishing Illusion’, has more to prove than a seven-minute Obscura number.
When it comes to atmosphere, ‘Consequence of Solution’ is coloured with a dense and unnerving emotional palette, close to Ripley’s reaction at her first meeting with the Alien. Armed with the most dangerous riffs and most inspiring ideas, Origin are more than just an excellent tech death band, they’ve reached unknown territories in the Universe.
Fucking nice review!
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