If you're already sick of every other "technical" death metal thing being nothing but sweep-arpeggio jerk-off sessions with no guts, pay attention. This might actually make you stop rolling your eyes.
Philippe Drouin didn't fake a band setup. Dude tracked everything - guitars, bass, vocals - solo on his double-neck Dean (yeah, the one Michael Angelo Batio handed over). Then he hit up John Longstreth from Origin to smash drums on it. What comes out is a tight madness. Like if someone smashed Gojira's fat grooves into neoclassical wank and classical rules, then blasted it at warp speed.
No bullshit long builds or padding. Shit starts hard. Left hand does the harmony weirdness, right keeps the low-end murder going. Tension's real. He throws in harmonic minor licks or straight-up Bach bits (there's that "Aria on the G String" wink in one single). Gives the brutality this creepy, sneering class.
Longstreth does what he does: plays like a machine on crack. Blasts so fast you question reality, weird timings everywhere, but he doesn't bury the guitars. Locks tight and gives the double-neck room to breathe.
Vocals are not everywhere, but when they drop they're nasty. Philippe's got that thick Quebec growl - mean, pissed, never cartoon growly.
Loses the fifth star because it's short as hell. Ambitious debut like this, you want more. Some songs cut right when the riff finally grooves in deep. And yeah the tech flex is killer, but a couple spots it's too "check this out" shred instead of straight skull-crush drive. Nitpick, sure, but tech death lives or dies on how long you can keep the density fun before it tires you out.
If you dig tech-death that's willing to get classical-weird and still brutal, grab it. Quebec release gig should be wild - Mitch taking live drums after Longstreth's studio massacre. Either way, Obvurt's making noise worth hearing. Not flawless. Close though. Miles better than the Bandcamp tech clones.
Thanks to Grand Sounds PR.
