(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new split by two Canadian bands, Fumigation and The Path To R’lyeh.)
Split releases are a great way to discover more than one new band at once, and even in the digital age, the split-release tradition runs strong in the metal world. So here we are today offering up an early stream of killer Canadian death metal from Fumigation and The Path To R’lyeh, two bands with quite different sounds within the death metal sphere. A yin and yang type release, if you will, one that I hope our readers will enjoy.
Entitled Invasion, the release kicks off with four bludgeoning and brutal tracks from established Ottawa, Ontario, skull-crushers Fumigation. I hadn’t heard of the group prior to this release, but they’re certainly on my radar now after becoming impressed with their multi-faceted take on brutal and old school rampaging death metal, one that’s updated with a modern veneer and slightly more complex delivery.
What I like best about the band’s songs here is their willingness to experiment, adding in progressive death metal passages, interesting dissonance-heavy flourishes, and more technical moments. Gritty and cavernous, Fumigation will appeal to fans of old school death metal and brutal death metal most of all.
Next up are Montreal newcomers The Path To R’lyeh, a group I was interested in almost from their inception since the band’s vocalist, my friend Yan Chatel (ex-AbouT:BlanK), has been sharing pre-production material with me for a while, which definitely piqued my interest.
The band draw lyrical inspiration and possessed energy from Lovecraft’s realms of horror (if their name didn’t give that away immediately). This is their first release as a band, and it was done in a DIY recording manner, making for a rough and raw sound that sounds great, in spite of this style usually going for a more polished sheen.
Throughout the band’s four songs here, they draw from all over the death metal map to create a unique amalgam. Overall, it’s a mix of melodic death metal and technical death metal, though the two are rarely conjoined together, but rather play out in different contrasting passages and various mixtures depending on the song. There’s also some brutal-minded death metal riffs and moments woven in as well.
The Path To R’lyeh’s material here shows a lot of promise, and I’m really looking forward to hearing what they do next.
Invasion by Fumigation and The Path To R’lyeh drops this Friday, April 28th, through CDN Records. Pre-orders are available through the links listed below.
http://www.cdnrecords.com/product/fumigationthe-path-to-rlyeh-invasion-split-cd-pre-order/
https://fumigationmetal.bandcamp.com/
https://thepathtorlyeh.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/PathToRlyeh
https://www.facebook.com/Fumigation-137024276331132/