I'm a huge fan of technical death metal, from the old stuff like Cynic and Necrophagist, to the newest-ish Obscura, Equipoise and Beyond Creation. Unfortunately, one the common issues with this sub-genre is that it tends to be technical for the sake of it, resulting in insipid stuffing of pointlessly technical technicalities all around on top of wanking on never-ending licks and blast beats, without any consideration for consistency, structure building, let alone artistic taste.
But, not Archspire! Relentless Mutation is the third full-length from this Canadian band, released on the 22nd of September 2017 via Season of Mist. Surprisingly short by clocking at only 31 minutes, but if it was played at "normal" speed it would likely be around 60min I guess. The tracks are flowing into each others, while being completely distinct despite being, well "technical death metal". It's one of the few albums where it's trivial to remember which song was which after a few listening, which while being a low-low bar, is unfortunately worth noting. Moreover, the album is surprisingly melodic: one can hum the tracks, which is again, low bar, yet again needs to be mentioned. It never feels like they're being fast for the sake of being fast: the music is shockingly great, not some pointless tech death speedrun any% shredding.
The musicianship on this album is absolutely incredible and it helps that it can actually be heard in the mix: Unlike their previous albums The Lucid Collective and All Shall Align, the mixing is way better: no more lyrics relayed to a muted background noise or fuzzy guitars. Things are detailed and crisp, everything in its right place and nothing feels too loud or too quiet. And given the complexity, speed and layering of the music, it's no small feat to achieve something this clear cut!
Now, it's impossible to write this without sounding cliche, but the guitarists and bassists truly take technical playing to a whole new level. The sheer speed, precision, and creativity of their riffs in literally every song is undeniably jaw dropping, with some clear neo-classic influences. Something that makes the whole album utterly pleasant is that the melodies never seem to follow exactly where the ear would take them, always surprising the listener. While guitar solo aren't my jam, as their tend to be, once again, aimless and intrusive wanking on tedious licks, it's not the case here: they don't feel out of place, and are often slower than the main riffs, as I guess they can't play much faster anyway.
If I had to bring some negativity, I'd say that Oli Peters' singing technique, while impressive, could use some more diction. If black metal bands like Bâ'a can manage to have understandable singing, odds are that so can other too. It's still completely insane how he manages to deliver lyrics at such high-speed nonetheless, and surprisingly for the genre, the lyrics are surprisingly good.
As a friend puts it, in this age of AI slop everywhere, given how fast and square Archspire is, it's the robots that should be afraid of being replaced.