Artificial Brain - Demo

Running out of creative titles here, not that the other posts' titles before this were very creative to begin with. This time I've got a demo for you. In my opinion it's easily the best demo of 2011 and it's by a band featuring members of Revocation, Biolich, and Cyanide Breed. That's a pretty sick lineup and the Revocation and Biolich sounds are obviously present. I haven't listened to the deceased Cyanide Breed's only full-length release so I can't say if their sound is in here, but I could see it if Metal Archives is correct in calling them progressive death metal.

 

Don't get the wrong idea about Artificial Brain though. The music contained on this demo is anything but flamboyant Dream Theater self-indulgencies and is instead blisteringly frenzied and bizarre technical death metal in the vein of the bands the members are from.

"Tongues" rips into existence with a harmonized tremolo riff. These occasional segments are the only black metal influence you'll hear on the demo aside from the occasional rasp, and as the tremolo part ends on "Tongues," Will Smith's (is that really his name?) guttural vocals take over the mix. I'm really impressed by the clarity of the instruments and vocals. The mixing on the demo is fantastic and allows for all the subtleties and nuances of technical instrumentation to shine through. Odd rhythms and time signatures add another layer to the sound on here, and they're really noticeable on "Spacid." The drumming in particular is excellently done, and Keith Abrami's work is highly skilled. The riffing on "Spacid" is a bit less exuberant and exciting than the other two tracks, but it's a rhythm-dominated track, and the bass is well-performed on here as well. "Lightwaves Birthing Ages" opens with a flurry of guitar intensity courtesy of Dan Gargiulo. Multiple vocal tracks work wonders on the ears as their timbres weave dense textures around the riffing. The solo builds the track up and it collapses into a colossal, melodic drone riff that echoes out the end of the demo.

The production and mixing really blew me away for a demo, and although it is kind of silly to put that much emphasis on it, the production is clearly better than most full-length albums by established bands (especially in technical death metal). These guys know how to compose excellent death metal and each track builds to some sort of exposition or follows the sort of linearity that I absolutely adore in bands like Flourishing. I'm really pumped to hear a full-length.

8.75 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Tongues
2.	Spacid
3.	Lightwaves Birthing Ages

Bandcamp (it's free!)