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Review: Allegaeon - Proponent for Sentience
Allegaeon
www.facebook.com/allegaeon
Proponent for Sentience

Label: Metal Blade Records
Year released: 2016
Duration: 72:05
Tracks: 12
Genre: Death Metal

Rating:
4/5


Review online: April 6, 2017
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Readers' Rating
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Rated 2.75/5 (55%) (4 Votes)
Review

This is actually the fourth album for Colorado tech-death band Allegaeon in a career that goes back like 12 years. Technical metal is always a bit of hit or miss with me, as it can be too jazz-influenced and wussy, like Cynic, or can be heavy and gratifying while still being complex, like Origin or Decrepit Birth. Happily, I find this falls into the latter category.

This is a heavy and intense assault of death metal, with furious riffing and sharp, melodic lead work that is both hooky and aggressive. This is melodic without the weedly-weedly kind of noodling this kind of bands sometimes fall into, and songs like "Of Mind and Matrix" and "The Arbiters" manage to be both furious and memorable. The sci-fi lyrical themes fit in very nicely with the tight, technical music, and the whole thing makes for a highly enjoyable package. It is maybe a tad long, and I think two songs could probably have been cut and made this more potent. Also, the cover of Rush's "Subdivisions", while thematically appropriate and rather inventively done, seems a bit out of place, and doesn't have a patch on the original. Though they do get points for not trying to do it with the harsh vocals.

Overall this is a tight, intense album of propulsive, technical death metal that manages to be complex but not noodly or unfocused. Fans of the genre should definitely not miss.

More about Allegaeon...
Review: Damnum (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
Review: Formshifter (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
Review: Fragments of Form and Function (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
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