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ANACHRONISM
Orogeny

Self-released (2018)
Rating: 8/10

Lisa Voisard (vocals and guitars), Manu Le Bé (guitars) and Florent Duployer (drums) are the talented trio behind a superb example of what can best be described as technical death metal. The Swiss band formed in 2009 and released their Senseless debut in 2012, but now they’ve taken things up a notch with an astonishing display of complexity and brutality.

As someone who is a big fan of metal that showcases progressive and intricate streaks, I just knew I was going to adore Orogeny, the word itself being a rather complex process of the folding of the Earth’s crust to form mountainous ridges.

Dive in then to ten engrossing tracks, and kicking things off we have ‘Anthropocene’ (which denotes an age whereby human beings are dominant). This track begins like a juggernaut; a mashing, gnashing machine with jarring chords embedded, the whole mesh led by the bellowing vocals of Lisa Voisard who is one booming leader when it comes to deathly expressions. Within that veil though, there are lighter layers flecks of Cynic and then maybe Gorguts, but all eventually swallowed by those pulverising passages. The listener never feels entirely overwhelmed, however, with help coming in the fact that all tracks present are pretty short.

Strange fluctuations of instrumentation litter the density; a solo begins then sharply stops so as to allow another pile of rubble to be administered to the ears. The chugging power then gives way to thrashier dynamics as with ‘Cryptobiosis’, where the bass lines bubble with great effect. While some bands of this ilk tend to trickle off onto bewildering tangents though, the progressions here seem natural, each diversion still leading us back to the same heavy quarry. And yet with ‘Cryptobiosis’, the band is certainly extremely experimental… so headbanger’s beware! I guess any fan of early to mid-90s death metal complexity, taking in the likes of, say, Death too, and marrying with such elements of, for example, Artificial Brain, will kinda get an idea of which network of tunnels this one likes to run through, although one never feels truly lost in the maze.

‘Aware Of This Descent’ jars to some extent, and when sped up the sound becomes more of a fluster than a suffocating layer, but that deep, ominous chugging remains.

The title track begins on a more subtle trickle led by Florent Duployer’s impressive drum skills; the track slowly untangles itself with a 70s-styled piece of progressive guitar work before the hammering ensues, and yet all the while those angular orchestrations worm their way into the backbone. Hard to argue then with every chord, jolt, flutter and chug this record offers, the track short enough so as to not bemuse with vast landscapes of technicality. Instead, we get tracks such as ‘Neurodegeneration’, which is one of the more pummelling exhibitions whereby Lisa Voisard’s vocals become sinister spurts, while ‘Perfect Asymmetry’ showcases similar trends. Again, ‘Perfect Asymmetry’ is bolstered by the brilliant percussive work, and as with ‘Endotherm’, we have that powerful merging of subtlety and weight.

Anachronism is a talented bunch that really does like to dabble in the realms of complex death metal. With Orogeny, they’ve succeeded in creating a wonderfully orchestrated and thought-provoking composition that could quite easily provide a soundtrack to the shifting plates of the planet.

Neil Arnold

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