NEURAXIS

Montreal's tech-death outfit NEURAXIS have released their latest effort, fourth in their discography, shortly after Earache put out a compilation comprising the band's first three albums. So what do we hear on this record that categorically sets it apart from its predecessors? On one hand, the sound hasn't fundamentally changed since 2001 — technicality, a clean yet heavy production, virtuosic guitars, a blistering yet incredibly complex drum performance, pounding bass, fairly articulate growling, and very good diction. But it's in that last aspect where we find the first difference — on previous albums, the proportion of high-pitched growling was much greater, whereas on "Trilateral Progression" it's practically absent, while the vocalist occasionally shifts to a whisper. The exception is the track "A Curative Struggle," sung almost entirely in a very high register, distantly reminiscent of early IN FLAMES. And this, in fact, points to another major distinction — one can now say that NEURAXIS play techno melodic death. The guitar solos have become more melodic, the pummeling hasn't disappeared but has become less aggressive. Furthermore, in places we can detect the influence of tech-death acts like CYNIC and ATHEIST — when particularly melodic passages merge with brutal sections. Such moments appeared on previous NEURAXIS records as well, but on this album they are most pronounced. Perhaps the only thing that preserves any hint of extreme sound is the drummer, delivering excellent blastbeats. The album closes with two very short compositions and the sprawling six-minute "The Apex." A minute and a half before its end, it begins to fade, and soon — yes, indeed — concludes with a very grandiose and beautiful keyboard passage. There is no groundbreaking novelty on this album, but it is wholeheartedly recommended for listening, except perhaps for skeptics who are overly sensitive about the melodicization of death metal acts.