While the world is recovering, Archspire unveils us Bleed the Future, its fourth album.
Created in 2007 under the name of Defenestrated, the band changes its name in 2009 before releasing an EP. It’s in 2017 that Spencer Prewett (drums), Dean Lamb (guitar), Tobi Morelli (guitar), Oliver Rae Aleron (vocals) and Jared Smith (bass) prove the world they are Technical Death Metal masters. And this album seems to be stronger.
Eliran Kantor’s illustration (Helloween, Atheist, Bloodbath, Loudblast, Gutslit…) confirms this statement of violence, like the fact we know Dave Otero (Akhlys, Allegaeon, Cattle Decapitation, Skinless…) handled everything from recording to mastering. The first punch in the face called Drone Corpse Aviator will remind quickly to those who forget the band’s true firepower, perfectly melting technicality, extreme fastness and heaviness. We notice vocals increased too, and that rhythmic can place destructive harmonics on an incredible blast, then Golden Mouth of Ruin’s killer groove strikes. The earthquake is as brutal as technical, unveiling low tuning suffocating tones that are still hooking. If you were surprised by the tempo the band can reach, you will be surprised by this track too, while being blown away by the riffs’ strength, whole Abandon the Linear unveils a heady dissonance that walks with the sound nothing can stop. The song will sometimes allow us to breathe before letting this flood of technicality come back, but Bleed the Future will be harder and offers an avalanche of uninterrupted violence. Once again, the tempo is incredibly high, but musicians will follow as virtuosos. Vocals are not put aside, because each syllable is perfectly pronounced while pushing limits back, then a soft break allows us to recover a bit before crushing us again. The introduction of Drain of Incantation will offer an airy and heady melody, then the rhythmic appears again. We notice the song is still quite melodic, while including parts of pure brutality or enchanting leads, then Acrid Canon develops some kind of blackness into its instrumental parts. Without neglecting this extreme technicality, the band offers more worrying tones, like the mysterious introduction of Reverie on the Onyx, that will be quickly caught by usual elements. The band also includes lumbering moshparts into those technical bursts, then A.U.M. shows the funny side of musicians with a sampled introduction. Once the answering machine is off, the band offers a last incredibly fast, technical and diversified composition, while offering some different tones. Bass is highlighted during the break, then the unfurling wave continues until the final.
Archspire offered an excellent album in 2017. Is it easy to do better? No it’s not, however Bleed the Future did it. Once again, the band offers a compendium of technicality, brutality, hooking tones and an incalculable amount of notes. 400 BPM? Okay. Making it interesting? Challenge accepted, but we’re far from the scholar demonstration.
97/100
