Mitochondrion - Parasignosis (2011)^{Release ID: 7986}

More cohesive and listenable than Archaeaeon, yet still seriously dense and brutal death metal the way it should be.

I’d been reasonably impressed with Mitochondrion’s debut Archaeaeon. The band showed in no uncertain terms that they have the brutality and darkness to match just about anything out there in the world of death metal, and there were some very nice ideas buried in the heaving mass for anyone not scared away from what is undoubtedly a frightening and bewildering first few listens. The album certainly had its flaws mind you, with the self-produced recording quality, stupendous running time, and general chaos of the whole thing marring the experience to the point where it’s hard to recommend. Thankfully Profound Lore Records saw the potential of these Canadians, as they agreed to release Mitochondrion’s second full length album Parasignosis. I for one was very interested to see whether the band could learn from their past mistakes, tighten things up a bit, and make the brutal, nasty slab of death metal that the debut merely suggested. It was good to see that after a rocky start with numerous line-up changes in their first couple of years, the majority of the guys have managed to stick around for the three years separating the releases, with only bassist Nick Gibas departing at some stage (guitarist Nick Yanchuk performed studio bass duties in his absence), meaning Mitochondrion were a three piece at the time of recording Parasignosis.

It’s amazing just how much noise three dudes from Canada can make. Parasignosis, which apparently literally means “knowledge from the parasite”, is once again a tremendously dense and vicious album, and yet it manages a higher accessibility and consistency than Archaeaeon. Everything that frustrated me on the debut has been sorted out for this recording, with a far superior production, a more easily digestible running time, and most importantly Mitochondrion have figured out how to harness the chaos and mould it into something more entertaining and cohesive. In doing so they’ve shed some of the influences found on earlier material, with no signs of grind and only minor smatterings of black metal popping up every now and then. In the end, Parasignosis is a true death metal album, and a welcome trip back to a time when the genre wasn’t polished up with crystal clear yet completely sterile production values that make so many modern death metal releases so lifeless. This is heavy and nasty, and likely to give all but the most devoted metal fans heart palpitations. Think Morbid Angel mixed with Incantation and you’d be somewhere in the vicinity of Mitochondrion, although the band and many reviews mention Australia’s Portal as an influence, whom I’m yet to check out. If they sound anything like this then I’m sure they’ll soon be spending some time on my iPod.

The themes on Parasignosis once again prove that the mortals behind it contain serious intellectual capabilities to go with their obvious musical talents. Touching on free will, disease, the supremacy of the parasite, alchemy, gnosis and suffering, the lyrics add to the feeling that you’re experiencing something significant, and possibly dangerous. There’s also a nice flow to the album where most tracks merge into the next with no real indication of change, making Parasignosis run as one monolithic movement. Thankfully the band have left memorable signposts to guide the listener along their path, with top notch riffs, awesome blasting sections, surprisingly cool leads and symphonic elements leaving their mark along the way. Highlights would have to be the immense ten-minute Tetravirulence, the sheer brutality that is Trials, and the monstrous closing instrumental Kathenotheism. Parasignosis is not a flawless or particularly pioneering album by any stretch (there are still too many layered vocals for my liking), but it’s one of the most enjoyable I’ve heard from the last few years, and I get the feeling Mitochondrion are still on the rise. If you like your death metal heavy and brutal but not necessarily overly-wanky or polished, go check out Parasignosis immediately.