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Review: Allegaeon - Fragments of Form and Function
Allegaeon
www.facebook.com/allegaeon
Fragments of Form and Function

Label: Metal Blade Records
Year released: 2010
Duration: 53:45
Tracks: 10
Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Rating:
3.5/5


Review online: October 6, 2010
Reviewed by: Michel Renaud
Readers' Rating
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Rated 3.67/5 (73.33%) (12 Votes)
Review

After suffering through some rather bland technical Death Metal and rehashed Melodic Death Metal in recent months, the combination of "technical" and "Melodic Death Metal" sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, but it turns out that Allegaeon aren't bad at all. The music is roughly halfway between Gothenburg melodeath and actual Death Metal, so as far as the genre goes they're more toward the extreme end, though the vocals are exactly what you expect from a Melodic Death Band, a harsh growl, not too guttural and decipherable enough – the vocalist does a very good job handling the vocals (the chorus to "Biomech - Vals No. 666" annoys the fuck out of me, however.)

Allegaeon play on the technical side of things, yes, but the senseless wanking associated with "technical" is really just seasoning, almost completely overshadowed by the sometimes catchy, sometimes intricate guitar melodies; they can be showing off one second, but before you have time to be bored to death, in comes what actually sounds like a song, and some of the guitar work on display may be technical, but at least it feels and sounds like music, rather than just a bunch of random notes played at high speed. Overall the album is a little long, and they could probably have shaved 8-10 minutes off it for a better listening experience. In short, Allegaeon have created something interesting out of two genres/sub-genres that have been pretty boring for a while. Kudos to them.

More about Allegaeon...
Review: Damnum (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
Review: Formshifter (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
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