It took them 5 years, but Canada's Augury are back with a damn impressive follow-up to their debut Concealed in the form of Fragmentary Evidence, a boiling, churning, brutally heavy concoction of progressive & technical death metal with a healthy dollop of jazz-fusion thrown in for good measure. That's right, Augury are out to tap into the fanbase of acts such as Death, Cynic, Braindrill, Into Eternity, Gorguts, Pestilence, Nile, and Obscura, and if you dig those bands chances are you are going to go bonzo after hearing this brand new release for Nuclear Blast Records.
From the opening notes of the rippling "Aetheral", you are instantly aware that this is going to be one brutal, crazy ride. Crazy, complex torrents of guitar and bass lines flying over intense rhythms while an array of extreme vocal styles hit you in the face like a wave of broken glass. "Simian Cattle" combines technical death metal with flashes of folk metal, and the wild "Orphans of Living" sees the band take short breaks of pure jazz-fusion between all the death metal bombast. Honestly, the jazz passages are so well put together, as weaving guitar and bass lines just intoxicate your senses before the raging thunder comes crashing back into the mix. Liquid bass lines and layers of guitar chords lead in "Jupiter To Ignite", as this number starts off quite jazzy before brutal growls and razor sharp & complex riffs come into play, but just as quickly the fusion element returns briefly, only to give way once again to more brutality. Lots of guitar and bass solos on this one in addition to all the crazy interplay, making it a real treat for prog-metal fans. On "Sovereigns Unknown" the band again returns to some of those folk metal vocal stylings, and vary their musical and vocal attack on the relentless "Skyless", a piece that has some truly mindblowing interplay between the guitars and bass. While some of the arrangments on "Faith Puppeteers" might remind of Iron Maiden, it's pure death metal for the most part, and "Brimstone Landscapes" mixes jazz, prog, death metal, power metal, grind, and folk metal all into one fascinating sound. Fragmentary Evidence concludes with the 11-minute progressive metal opus "Oversee The Rebirth", another proggy/jazzy piece that sees ragged growls doing battle with acrobatic bass lines, churning riffs, and blazing drum blasts. The middle instrumental section sounds like it could have come off of one of King Crimson's early 80's albums...breathtaking stuff.
Overall, there is some seriously incredible music here. Probably a bit too extreme for the prog crowd, and that's a real shame as there is some amazing playing going throughout this CD that would certainly be enjoyed by lovers of that genre. Technical death metal fans however are going to absolutely eat this up...and since I'm one of them, time to hit the replay button!
Track Listing
01. Aetheral
02. Simian Cattle
03. Orphans Of Living
04. Jupiter To Ignite
05. Sovereigns Unknown
06. Skyless
07. Faith Puppeteers
08. Brimstone Landscapes
09. Oversee The Rebirth
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