Tech Death Thursday: Anisoptera – “Sterilization”
Prog fans rejoice: we have a beefy new tune for you today, courtesy of Anisoptera!
You could be forgiven for not knowing Anisoptera. With only a single and a short demo to their name so far, the band has a surprisingly well defined style with only a handful of songs. Today, I have the pleasure of helping them bring you “Sterilization,” the first single from their debut album, Spawn of Odonata. With this release, I believe this up-and-coming progressive death metal act is going to be coming up a whole lot faster. Check it out:
The song opens with a bit of jazzy chording over a big, beefy downtuned riff, gradually ramping in intensity up into a cascading series of pull-offs as the vocals join and drumming reaches a head. Multiple tempo and time signature changes make it feel erratic, but calculated; it flows so well and with such ease that you don’t really notice it’s happening until your own head-bobbing is off beat. It’s like they captured the strange motions of their namesake in audio form: unpredictable, and yet completely in control.
In terms of overall sound, the closest thing I can think of is Black Crown Initiate. Their propensity to stick to the low- to mid-ranges of their instruments, along with the warm tones and slower cadence, is reminiscent of BCI’s most recent output in the best way. In terms of structure, it’s more in line with some of the newer prog death acts we’ve been hearing from lately (Xenosis and Inverted Serenity both spring to mind). In spite of the feeling changes between each riff, they all feel tied to a central theme; they simply approach that theme from a multitude of angles. It’s smart and it’s fun, as well as being surprisingly approachable for this type of music.
SPAWN OF ODONATA COMES OUT THIS SEPTEMBER. BE SURE TO FOLLOW ANISOPTERA ON FACEBOOK AND BANDCAMP FOR MORE DETAILS.
That’s all for now, and until next time,
Stay Tech
Is your band tech as heck? Got a juicy piece of news or an upcoming release to watch? Send it my way at techdeathtovh@gmail.com and I’ll check it out. I might even talk about it.
