AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MATT MILLER — “EFFECTIVELY NEUTRALIZED”

(written by Islander)

Whiz-bang can only carry an extreme metal guitarist so far, especially in a modern era marked by what one of our writers is prone to call the “tech death nuclear arms race,” in which blistering speed and near-inhuman dexterity have become main marks of competition, often leaving actual songwriting melted in the wake of the blast fronts.

And that brings us to the subject of Oregonian Matt Miller. He has earned a reputation as a death metal shredder par excellence, on top of his reputation as an award-winning producer and engineer. He built that reputation in part through a flurry of solo instrumental albums and EPs released from 2021 to 2023.

But with his new album Fiber Tormentum, forthcoming from Exitus Stratagem Records in September, it is entirely fair to say that Miller has reached a pivotal moment in his musical evolution, with new ambitions made evident and new stylistic ingredients impressively melded together. We have vivid signs of this in the song from Fiber Tormentum we’re presenting today through a video premiere.

L-R – Justice Robinett (Bass), Jordan Kelso (Drums, Synth), Matt Miller (Guitars, Synth), Biko Wright (Vocals)
Photo Credit – Lilly May Everett

One important signal of the afore-mentioned pivot is that on the new album Matt Miller is now surrounded by a full band — one that includes vocalist Biko Wright, making Fiber Tormentum Miller‘s first non-instrumental-only record. The other bandmembers are Jordan Kelso (drums/synth) and Justice Robinett (bass).

Another signal of expanded ambitions is that the album is a conceptual narrative, one that ventures into sci-fi territory with a dystopian tale that involves manipulation of human DNA by advanced extraterrestrials (we’re told that its development was influenced by the negative effects that COVID-19 had on society). The album’s striking cover art connects with the story. To quote Matt Miller:

The album cover was made by a dear friend, Joshua Nassaru Ward. I remember talking with Josh about the overall concept of the album when I was playing guitar for a tour with his band Voraath. I had told him the loose concept of the lyrics and about human DNA being manipulated and programmed by travelers of time and space. So the face is crying out in torment as the fibers of their DNA are changed.

The name for Fiber Tormentum came from a history documentary about the Roman Empire. Fiber Tormentum is the sound a Ballista makes when the ropes are tightened to launch the projectile. When I heard that, I immediately grabbed my phone and wrote it down.

But now it’s time to make a pivot of our own, and to consider what the album delivers musically, with a special focus on the song we’re presenting today. We should again first share Matt Miller‘s perspective:

This album features so many new elements including the heaviest, melodic, and most technical music in my catalog that has been released so far. It’s got a lot to offer for the instrumental fans as well as new fans who want to hear the music with vocals and the unique things each of these musicians is bringing to the table. I think listening to music sets the scene to tell a story. In this case I think that listeners are going to hear a lot of nuance and a wide range of emotions. Overwhelming is how I would describe it. We make music that is catchy but relentless.

The song we’re premiering today, “Effectively Neutralized“, displays much of what Matt Miller is talking about there. In the context of the album narrative, it represents the enactment of the extraterrestrials’ pernicious plan and its immediate effect on humanity.

Make no mistake, this song does display a lot of instrumental whiz-bang, with notes and beats flying fast through a rapidly twisting and turning course and executed with technical virtuosity. Especially impressive is the soloing, where Miller‘s nimble fingers on both hands are executing spidery maneuvers up on the frets above the bridge.

But it must also quickly be said that all of the technically precise acrobatics, while head-spinning and exhilarating to hear (and see), are also laden with many hooks, both rhythmic and melodic, and are geared toward the creation of atmosphere and mood.

In line with the album’s narrative, the music does sound like the bizarre and malicious machinations of an extraterrestrial race, often frenzied and ecstatic but also malignant and merciless. Even the rapidly swirling and immediately attention-seizing solo, piercing in tone, sounds profoundly alien and exotic.

The music also thunders and jolts, giving the song a heavy-grooved and pulse-pounding impact. It builds toward crescendos of madness, incorporating fretwork that’s both exotically fluid and insanely darting and angular, and near the end the song’s mood alters, seguing into a phase that sounds desperate and dark, like the emerging deleterious effects of a fiendishly manipulative plan.

And of course, we must mention the vocals. For the most part they’re gruff barking growls that fly as fast as the overall tempo of the song, leaving no doubt that you’re listening to death metal. But they also provide a surprise, in judicious bursts of high-flown singing that provide upward sharply arcs in the song’s progression.

All in all, it’s a fascinating song — head-spinning and heart-palpitating but also a heavy-hitter and a conjurer of strange, sinister, and haunting visions. In other words, in the space of just five minutes it pulls off a lot of impressive feats. And the well-filmed and well-edited video for it is a perfect complement, in that it shows us how all these talented performers executed all the impressive accomplishments.

Fiber Tormentum as produced by Matt Miller and Jordan Kelso, and Jordan also mixed and mastered it. The album will be released through Exitus Strategem on September 12th, and it comes recommended for fans of Necrophagist, Symphony X, Wintersun, The Faceless, and Death.

For more info, see the links below. We’ve also included a jaw-dropping guitar playthrough video for another album track, “Descent into Violence“, and the visualizer for that same song off the album.

MATT MILLER:
https://mattmiller2.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@mattmillerguitar
https://www.instagram.com/mattmiller630/
https://www.facebook.com/matt.miller.96995238/

EXITUS STRATEGEM:
https://www.exsrmusic.com/matt-miller
https://www.facebook.com/ExSRecords
https://www.instagram.com/exsrmusic/