“Blackened Tech Death” is the shorthand description offered by Transcending Obscurity Records for A Form Beyond, the debut album of the U.S. band Unaligned, though the label also rightly draws attention to the band’s penchant for creating a more atmospheric and epic take on the technical death metal style.
The song we’re premiering today, “Dreaming in Decay“, which arrives with a vividly illustrated lyric video, bears out those descriptions. It manages to be eerily supernatural, a manifestation of ancient gods and demons, but also a blood-rushing display of instrumental exuberance, hard-hitting groove, and spine-tingling vocal savagery.
As you’ll see further below, Unaligned‘s lineup includes members of Withered Throne, Fleshbore, Nightspake, Demon King, and Killitorous (among others), each of them proven performers with a lot of instrumental flare across a range of extreme genre styles, and they demonstrate that flare, along with an intriguing sense of melody, in the song you’re about to hear.
The opening riff of “Dreaming in Decay” pulsates and wails, its tones straddling a line between corrosive and glittering, its mood both sinister and distressing. It seems to radiate an evil presence, made even more ominous by groaning bass notes, rumbling double-bass, and ravenous vocals.
Unaligned also earn their tech-death laurels when they break out into flurries of frenetically darting and deliriously swirling fretwork, electrifying bursts of high-speed percussion, jolting grooves, and sharply executed tempo shifts — while those attacking vocals continue manifesting like a hellish beast.
As exhilarating as all that is to hear, an ensuing guitar solo might be the most attention-grabbing aspect of the song. Piercing in tone, fluidly swirling and spiraling, and exotic in a way that aligns with the ancient Egyptian imagery in the video, it paves the way for the song to majestically soar, gloriously godlike in its atmosphere.
But the band pick that point to throw listeners off-balance, suddenly transitioning into a soft and slow phase of mystery and magic. To build back up again, the drums tumble and rumble, the vocals become a snarling pack, and the music begins to dissonantly chime and vividly throb (sinister once more) until the song concludes in a final episode of tech-death delirium.
UNALIGNED LINEUP:
Taylor Tidwell (Withered Throne) – Guitars
Shane Dreher (Nightspake) – Guitars
Cole Daniels (Demon King, Fleshbore) – Bass
Andrew Guia (Withered Throne) – Vocals
Jack Blackburn (Killitorous, ex-Inferi) – Drums
Transcending Obscurity will release A Form Beyond on September 12th in a jewel-case CD edition with booklet, and digitally, along with a wide range of apparel and other merch featuring Adam Burke‘s fantastic album art.
T.O. recommends the album for fans of Demon King, Withered Throne, Inferi, Enfold Darkness, Warforged, and Vale of Pnath. Find pre-order info via the links below. We’ve also included video streams of two previously released songs from the album, “Essence Erased” and “Entities of Ash“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://unaligned-label.bandcamp.com/album/a-form-beyond
http://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/
http://eu.tometal.com/
UNALIGNED:
http://facebook.com/UnalignedOfficial
https://instagram.com/unalignedofficial
2 Responses to “AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: UNALIGNED — “DREAMING IN DECAY””
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Oh yeah I dig this.
Grog like