Apogean - Cyberstrictive (2024)^{Release ID: 50819}

In my never ending journey to find extreme metal that resonates with me, I recently discovered locals in the band Apogean and their debut, full length LP, Cyberstrictive. After hearing the bands EP, Into Madness, I was surprised by the quality of the musicianship and production for such a fresh face in this sphere. So after finally getting to this new record, I was even more surprised to hear how much this band has already grown in such a short period of time, with very little preemptive material to compare it to.

This is technical death metal with a melodic intent. Don't get the intentions of this album confused with one another; the sheer intensity of the death metal on "Thousand-Yard Glare" and "Polybius" are magnificent and give the album the sort of malicious intent that such a genre tag would imply. But these aspects are complimentary to the melodic leads, which are provided by some great guitar leads and the occasional repeated vocal motif. And what makes Cyberstrictive stand out amongst its peers is how well these two sides coexist together. I never felt like the melodic/progressive elements were getting in the way of the pummeling guitar riffing and blast beat percussion, or vice-versa.

The album has such a clean sound to it as well. It reminds me quite a bit of the prim and proper production of a recent Dying Fetus album in that regard. The album is filled with guitar solos that sound great, especially since they are not always of the face melting variety. The vocals are also not an afterthought. The low gutturals of Mac Smith are intense and match the ferocity of the music. The screeching highs however are a more hit-and-miss. They can sound good, but on occasion, they suffer from the Will Ramos effect of recent Lorna Shore albums where the highs are condensed so hard into the back of the mix. If these vocals were just embellishment (like on an Unreqvited album), this would not bother me as much, but since these vocals also have lyrics associated with them (i.e. "With Which Ear You'll Listen"), it does dampen their effect.

Beyond some minor nitpicks, I really enjoyed the debut album from Apogean. It shows a lot of potential for a debut and takes technical death metal to spaces that I rarely come across. It's brutal, but also melodic. It has straightforward and infectious riffage, but also isn't afraid to spread its progressive wings. A very solid recommendation from me, and certainly if you're into the tech-death stylings of Wormhole and Tomb Mold.

Best Songs: Thousand-Yard Glare, With Which Ear You'll Listen, Hueman (The Pleasure of Burn), Polybius