(written by Islander)
“Haxprocess are playing incredibly heavy death metal music – leaden, thick and dark, and are somehow attempting to go progressive wielding that sound. It’s like Morbid Angel covering The Chasm songs under the influence of Blood Incantation.”
That’s part of how Transcending Obscurity Records pitches Beyond What Eyes Can See, the forthcoming second album by the Floridian quartet Haxprocess. They also mention that the album includes only four songs that average 10 minutes per track — epic in length, and allegedly epic in impact.
Well, to say the least, expectations have been raised. How well does the reality conform to them? Discerning listeners already have half the answer, because T.O. has already streamed the album’s opening two songs — “Where Even Stars Die” and “The Confines of the Flesh“. Now you’ll get three-quarters of the answer because we’re about to premiere the album’s closing track, “Sepulchral Void“.
You’ll figure out very quickly from just this 13-minute new song that T.O. are on the mark in dropping the word “progressive” into their description. But it is a rendering of progressive death metal that’s as strange, surreal, and dazzling as Juanjo Castellano‘s cover art for the album.
There’s a brazen and even imperious quality to the song’s march-like opening riff, but the song’s surreal aspects also quickly become apparent through both shrill quivering tones that resonate like a vintage electronic keyboard and frantically swirling fretwork. All of that grabs attention quickly, but so do the nimble bass-lines and skull-snapping drum rhythms.
Yet that’s just the song’s overture, and for many minutes more Haxprocess lead listeners through a bewildering musical labyrinth, accompanied by vicious, serrated-edge snarls and strangled cackles. One moment they inflict insectile guitar-swarms, and in the next moment the notes mysteriously ring, savagely blare, sear and scream, or squirm about in manifestations of demented jubilation.
The tempos, moods, and decibels are in constant flux. The layered guitar-work is elaborate in conception, eye-popping in execution, and almost relentlessly twisted, perhaps especially in the ecstatically deranged soloing spectacles. But when the drums vanish and the bass subtly murmurs, the music becomes eerie and sinister — but also seductive.
Speaking of the drums and bass, they’re inventively variable and the performances are just as likely to seize attention as that of the guitarists. All the intricate moving parts are frequently bizarre, but also locked together with machine precision, and the music is produced with such clarity that all the many spinning and clobbering movements are vividly defined.
You’ll recall that T.O. also calls the music of Haxprocess “incredibly heavy”, and this song does have its dismal and oppressive moments, but this song isn’t a conventional crusher, but much more of a head-spinning whirligig, straight through to the mesmerizing guitar-and-bass duet that functions as an unexpected finale.
The album is enormously and exuberantly creative, and an enormously ambitious undertaking, and we can understand why T.O. labels it “epic”, not merely because the songs are long but because the band’s achievements are so incandescent.
HAXPROCESS:
Lothar Mallea – Guitar and vocals
Shane Williamson – Guitar
Davis Leader – Bass
Adam Robinson – Drums
Transcending Obscurity will release Beyond What Eyes Can See on July 25th. As noted, it’s adorned by the stunning cover art of Juanjo Castellano, and it’s available on gatefold vinyl LP, 8-panel digipack CD, cassette tape, and digital formats, along with lots of other merch options.
Find more info via the links below, and we’re also including streams of those two previously released songs, “Where Even Stars Die” and “The Confines of the Flesh“. T.O. recommends the album for fans of Morbid Angel, Blood Incantation, The Chasm, Immolation, Opeth, Atvm, Atheist, Felgrave, and Typhonian.
PRE-ORDER:
https://haxprocess-label.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-what-eyes-can-see
http://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/
http://eu.tometal.com/
HAXPROCESS:
http://facebook.com/HaxprocessOfficial