Even though Upon Inflection have just released their debut album, they are not newcomers. The band's drummer Gus Rios has actually been part of the Florida death metal scene for over 15 years, playing with bands like Malevolent Creation, Divine Empire and Kult ov Azazel (on their first disc). Rios has also studied together with the amazing Sean Reinert (Cynic, Gordian Knot) and has carried some of his jazz-death influences over to the Upon Inflection debut.
Rios' main partner in crime is the great Seth Ringler on guitars. His fluid, well-executed guitar playing lends itself to all kinds of death metal styles, ranging from ultra-technical and mammoth rhythm work on the fast and brutal "You Will Suffer"; to the short but precise chord progressions on "Surgical Murder", featuring both a killer drum and guitar solo respectively. On more oldschool death metal numbers such as "Abducted", the band opt for a darker and slightly slowed-down approach, allowing Brian Mygrant's deep growls to take the lead role as Hector Rios fills the bottom end on his bass. Amidst all this never-ending chaos, they still manage to weave melodic runs and passages into their tracks, rendering pieces like the opening cut "Order" and the punishing "Rage", both complex and melodically engaging. Seth Ringler definitely has an early Morbid Angel vibe to his playing, as his solos are usually atonal and take a different musical path to express themselves, unlike most other current death metal bands' guitarists. Other standouts include the rapid-fire riffs on "American Way", the monstrous drumming on "Lifeless and Abuseed", the epic ending of "Dead Have Risen", and the blood-spitting screams by Mygrant on "State Sanctioned Execution". As Mygrant also wrote the lyrics for all but two tracks, he seems to do a better job delivering them, given it must be a difficult task to interpret others' lyrics.
Most songs are pretty short but compositionally strong. The album clocks in at slightly over 30 minutes, and also features a great Death cover ("Mutilation"), as the final track. Recommended to fans of Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation and even the non-jazzy parts of Cynic and Death circa Individual Thought Patterns.
Track Listing
- Order
- You Will Suffer
- Abducted
- Surgical Murder
- Rage
- American Way
- Lifeless and Abused
- State Sanctioned Execution
- Dead Have Risen
- No Opinions Left
- Mutilation
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