Viralocity

I do not own a thesaurus. This is not because I am low-brow or verbally challenged but because I prefer to write using my own vocabulary, especially when writing song titles. A fellow I know is the stark opposite. His idea of a good song title is a string of multisyllabaic monstrosities glued together to make a meaningless but brutal sounding phrase, or the classic "(verbing) the (noun)" arrangement, in which both verb and noun are as large and meaningless as possible.

Entrails Eradicated would get on very well with this fellow, especially when informing him that they have a song called "Harnessing Gravitational Endurance", a name so refreshingly meaningless and brutal sounding that all of death metal bows before it. Seriously, I have honestly no idea what this means, and after scanning through the lyrics I am still none the wiser. Harnessing Gravitational Endurance? Utilising Gravity's Consistency? Using Gravity? Does that eleven syllable phrase just mean falling? Or is it because this CD is 97.5% gravity blasts? Anyway...

As this is a review, I should get on with the reviewing. The genre of technical death metal ('tech death') is one toward which I am deeply bipolar. It is no mystery that there is a very important but elusive line which divides the genre in two, the border between listenable and unlistenable. You can deny it all you want but the line is there, and everyone knows it. On one side we have uncompromising Origin, who fuse excellent songwriting with blistering technicality, while on the other we have Brain Drill, who make a mess. On one side is Necrophagist who widdly widdle but don't lose sense of melody, while on the other is Viraemia who widdly widdly widdly widdle until widdles don't cut it anymore.

Entrails lie very much in Origin land, with the other musicians who have not lost their ability to reason, but there is an added factor to consider here. The closer a band gets to the aforementioned line, and the more technical they can become without losing their listenability the more fucking awesome they become (proven). Entrails are pushing the boundary of that line and doing exceptionally well with it.

Viralocity is a unique creature in that it is simultaneously massively brutal and widdly at the same time. When the playing is so high up the neck, it is often difficult to maintain a sound that is anything other than widdle, but Viralocity proves that it is more than possible. Kudos go out to the guitar players who executes some of the most crisp and tight sweeps I have just about ever heard. The execution is complemented by the excellent choice of melodies upon which this somewhat overused technique is viciously unleashed. Anyone can write a sweep picking riff, but to write 5 or 6 of them that are actually distinct and enjoyable to listen to is no easy task. The intro to Collapsible Continuum is probably one of the better examples of this interesting writing.

Vocals are visceral and unrelenting throughout and really add to intensity when the guitars go high. The mix does not really favour bass, so I cannot really comment there. Drum production is slightly irritating with regard to the snare, but hey, its going to have to be triggered pretty heavily with the amount of gravity blasts this CD contains (Harnessing Gravitational Endurance?) so I can forgive this. I was amazed to find out that the drummer was a real person and not a VST plugin, as the speed is so insane. It would be interesting to see some passages performed live to see whether or not we have been deceived by pro tools trickery, or whether Kollias will have to go back to the woodshed

That concludes the review of the death metal on this CD, however I am sad to say that more must be considered. The EP opens with classical piece which is ominous and well written (certainly better than most of Azagthoth's keyboard ramblings) but far far too long. The intro segues into "Harnessing..." which pummels away for approximately two minutes before plunging into a minute of haunting ambience. We are then treated with an entire song, and up to a devastating slam in "Impending Annihilation" before we are again entrenched in another minute of creepy ambient. The EP lurches on before the final 2 minutes of the title track offer a return to the land of ambient. Now I am all one for variety, but this is enough ambience to break up a full length album, never mind such a short EP. The overall flow of the CD is hindered, especially as the songs are so short. Having maybe 3 or 4 songs of this length between each minute of ambience would suffice, but any more just detracts.

But I am nitpicking here. The score is already pretty high. Dump some of the more obvious sweeps, some of the daft song titles and 50% of the ambience and this release is easily pushing the high 90s. I gladly await an album from these guys and I'm sure it will be immense.