Evolutionary Miscarriage

Pillory belong to the more “insane” part of the death metal movement, the one that tried to incorporate more chaotic structures into the death metal template by at the same time retaining the speedy performance, the final results often bordering on the inaccessible. So our friends here find themselves in the company of other visionary outfits like Gigan, Psyopus, Psychofagist, Fulcrum, The Gorge, Starring Janet Leigh, etc.

From this batch this act are probably the closest to the “mathcore meets death metal” sound without so much adherence to pure technical death shredding or sprawling dissonant landscapes ala “Obscura”. In this train of thought one can’t deny the influence of The Dillinger Escape Plan, for example, on the volatile, amorphous opener “And the Defeated Emerge” which urgent leaps and bounds and sudden stop-and-go breaks owe a lot to the hardcore avant-gardists including in the overshouty rending vocal department only that here the singer doesn’t play a very big role. Don’t expect too many brutal blasting extremities as the delivery is quite hectic without breaking any sound barriers. On the longer compositions, like the title-track, the guys really display their craft carefully weaving elaborate tapestries of schizoid twisted sounds with considerable mastery behind them, the band even finding the time to insert the odd speedy escapade. Mentioning the latter, cuts like “Imbeciles in Defiance” and “The Mental Detective” have their more aggressive moments, but “antidotes” are amply provided as well in the form of more melodic tunes which at times embrace whole pieces (the short “idyllic” “Phantasmagorical Beasts” and the spacey balladic delight “Distorted Axiom”, both instrumentals). To point at any unmitigated flaws, the closing “Bipedal Prosecution” is a 9.5-min odyssey which starts with jarring mind-scratching riffage and surprising contrasting melo-death hooks, but half the time is occupied by meaningless static noise that takes away quite a bit of the pleasure from the whole aural experience.

Still, there’s plenty of guitar acrobatics to satisfy even the most pretentious of fans out there, including the death metal lovers who wouldn’t be wondering too much about what kind of music exactly they’re listening to. The debut was more chaotic and dishevelled which to some may have been the better option, but the discipline exercised here kind of gives more chance to the musicians to exhibit their skills. And they don’t disappoint as the delivery remains on a high level with surprises at every corner, the majority of them by all means pleasant.

The mathcore/death metal hybrid has generated quite a bit of diatribes from purists in more recent years, but diversity is the mother of evolution (who had said that? Darwin?), after all, and these pillars of its musical side here will definitely look to contribute more fully to its upward trajectory.

Pillory brings a humungous offering of technical death metal with this new album 'Evolutionary Miscarriage'. The twist this time (for me at least) was that Pillory is only one musician. I guess that eliminates the hassle of organizing multiple people to come into the recording studio!

But the solitary musician in Pillory, Darren Cesca, has an impeccable ability for rhythm and technicality. This is the second album from the New England musician in the ten years since Pillory’s debut release 'No Lifeguard at The Gene Pool'. There are a lot of those breakdowns that have become a definite staple to nearly all extreme music coming out of Boston, Massachusetts. But even with all the breaking down, there is upward and forward mobility on each and every track and the movement of 'Evolutionary Miscarriage' never stops to rest. I think it’s a fair warning to give that once you start 'Evolutionary Miscarriage', stopping at any point could be potentially hazardous to your health.

I know that the downside to working on a music project all by yourself is that the amount of work put upon is increases three or maybe even four times more than normal. Because of all of this work that is mandatorily demanded from the sole solitary musician, I can understand how the space and freedom to explore the artistic and creative angle to even the most technical music can get jaded in the production process.

This could be said about 'Evolutionary Miscarriage' but in its essence, the album does seems to come from a more rational, left-brained area, seeing as a lot of the themes and lyrics tend to deal with science. I would agree that the tracks “Imbeciles In Defiance” & “Distorted Axiom”, which is an instrumental interlude, is a decent example that this band has the potential to get further into the progressive sides of technical death metal similar to the music of the band Augury.

Fans of Beneath The Massacre, The Faceless, Necrophagist and I will dare to say that even Anaal Nathrakh will definitely love this album from Pillory. Let’s hope that 'Evolutionary Miscarriage' is the album that propels them out of obscurity and towards the forefront of the metal scene. I know that there is a lot of competition in Boston to create the most technical, the most brutal and the most punishing metal around. I couldn’t be the one to tell you whether or not Pillory has got what it takes but let’s just wait and see what Darren Cesca wants to do with this powerhouse of a record.

(originally published on Metal-Temple.com, 7-7-14.)