UNALIGNED: “A FORM BEYOND”

(Given our DGR’s proclivities in musical taste it was just a matter of time before he got around to reviewing the debut album from Unaligned, which was released by Transcending Obscurity Records in September. And now’s the time.)

Fireworks are pretty much illegal in the glorious nation of California. Something about the state being a massive tinderbox in the spring and summertime thanks to our brand new, shiny, and totally not climate change related weather pattern of atmospheric river into complete and utter drought means that even the slightest butterfly fart has the risk of igniting Santa Monica and reducing it to ash. That’s not to deny that the appeal isn’t there, and a brightly colored explosion is immensely and undeniably fucking cool, to say the least.

But, if we cannot have our yearly culling of hands and other extremities by some of the less bright among the shedful of lightbulbs that is our populace, we can seek other ways to chase after that high. What about musically then? Perhaps that is why even though it has long ossified into its own form of genre, tech-death seems to hold on out here. From any source, all across the nation, we will more than happily absorb that wall of notes and pyrotechnic instrumentation. We are the one of the homes of the big ramp of the X Games after all, and what is tech-death if not the musical idea of lining up a whole bunch of fireworks all in a row, setting them off at the same time, and then launching yourself across a forty-foot gap while attempting to land some sort of trick?

Tech-death is the very existence of “why can’t it just be the big ramp all the time”. With subtlety now strapped to a rocket and launched into space, tech-death itself has been a vibrant home to foster all sorts of wild musical showmanship, and surprisingly, it still shows no sign of slowing down. The latest evidence of that comes to us from all the way across the country in Florida’s Unaligned and their September-released album A Form Beyond.

For those still wondering where this meandering path is traveling, fireworks being illegal in the bigger cities never stopped us from actually getting our hands on it and rigging some sort of monstrosity together just to watch it blow up. Usually soda bottles and a long trail of powder from inside other “safe n’ sane” branded fireworks found their way into the mix; other times it was just a long disaster that when set off would lead to some sort of inhuman screech that lasted way longer than its progenitor firework was ever meant to, usually trailing off into a godawful explosion all its own, courtesy of an older sibiling and friend.

By the time you were done after the ritual, the pomp and circumstance, and the general showmanship of all of it, you never really knew you where you stood. You knew it was a great thing you just did, but you were never sure why and never could place why the feeling didn’t last long. It was a voracious quest during the holidays in which one could blow stuff up. This is where I find myself standing when it comes to A Form Beyond.

When pressed up against the wall I’m not sure where the album stands within the greater cosmic architecture of death metal, its placement within Laniakea, but I’m pretty sure I enjoy it just the same. When I pass and my heart is weighed against that of a feather on the scales it will likely come to reveal that I think Unaligned are one of those bands that is a perfect encapsulation and perfect snapshot of a particular point in time; an excellent example of tech-death stretching its tendrils in many directions to create purpose and find meaning so that the group is more than just another band with a sharp logo and a thrilling space-concept masquerading as existential philosophy.

There’s no denying that the crew comprising Unaligned are tremendously talented. The listing of members and their respective resumes is a murderer’s row of the modern tech-death scene, rotating between bands well positioned within the Transcending Obscurity lineup and others dancing around the sphere of influence that The Artisan Era occupies. There’s an almost unspoken mark of quality in that regard, a little bit of of “I know what I’m in for” in play, but as much as many of these bands can hammer out song after song – sometimes as rapidly as their music – there is no guarantee that they’ll break out of their initial musical sphere.

Unaligned recognize this early and instead are one of a newer breed of amorphous blobs that have as many genre descriptors as there are ex’s listed in front of their roster’s previous bands. It is an existence carved out as music’s eligible bachelor. Unaligned’s twist on the formula is to not pack in progressive death metal wanderings but to also “blacken” up their sound a bit. The deathcore scene having embraced symphonic bombast as a way to break out of a staid bludgeoning format over the past few years, the tech-death sphere has noticed that the leap from many of their high screams and shrieks into the high screams and shrieks of black metal is not as grand a canyon as one might think they have to jump.

There is definitely a larger discussion to be had as to whether or not many of the turns Unaligned takes consitutes a black metal influence, given that the cold forests and reactionary despair of that genre don’t quite loan themselves to the upfront and pyrotechnic aggresion that is fused into A Form Beyond, but you can definitely note that it is there, like a spectre hovering just over the shoulder of the band to help them break out of relentless note-walls. Can something so “tech” be haunted?

The tale of the tape for A Form Beyond reads neatly, a sub-forty-minute and eight-song album with many of its tracks staying neatly in the four to five minute range. You’d argue there was a format here but instead it seems that Unaligned’s method of songwriting is the same as our trail of fireworks gunpowder from earlier on, and eventually the song ends because the energy is extinguished. The band will have legimitimately burned through everything they have to say within the bounds of one song before contorting into a new form for the next track. A Form Beyond is fascinating in that sense because there is a fair share of tech-death hallmarks throughout but you’re listening in part to see how Unaligned twist and mutate it to keep things interesting.

Certain tracks have a percussive hammering to them, like “Essence Erased”, and others will drift into near-psychedelia for brief moments, like within “Spirit Dysmorphia”. If you’re hunting for a neater and more head-on tech-death experience, then “Entities Of Ash” may be the best “welcome to the show” that Unaligned could’ve had on offer. While it doesn’t quite do them favors in terms of laying out just how many ingredients the band have in their musical soup, you’d also be hard pressed to get the initial martial screams that make up the chorus out of your head. It’s a four-to-five second brainworm neatly trimmed out of a five-minute song. You’re almost left wanting them to circle back around on the “chorus” segment again. It may be tempting to describe a lot of the extra limbs on the Unaligned monster as being just on the fringes of their sound, but A Form Beyond has evidence that they’re working to intertwine them as best they can. “Death Entwines Us All” makes for an excellent five-minute gordian knot of music in that way.

A Form Beyond isn’t perfect and Unaligned do stumble a bit in regard to some of their in-between movements in songs falling into faceless riffwork territory. Transitioning between parts is a difficult act and even the best among us give into the temptation to rapidly tap out something to get you to the next “big moment” in a song, but many a seasoned tech-death fan will also own up to the fact that songs can sometimes sound like auditory math. Not necessarily as dry as Microsoft bob reading you calculus proofs, but trying to recall certain segments can feel like an exercise left to those with picture-perfect memory. Thankfully A Form Beyond is on the positive side of that particular ratio, so it still makes for a fun listen as Unaligned machinegun parts and segments at you.

A Form Beyond causes the mind to wander. As Unaligned explore the vast reaches of where they can take their genre to, so too do we as listeners. There’s so much promised potential when your eventual conclusion is “oh, we can fit just about anything in these walls”. The difficulty then is that songwriting is like running through a musical minefield because you’re just as often trying to avoid creating musical beige as you are snapping something else up in your jaws to be absorbed into your sound. It’s a wild circus act in that regard, in which it feels like the performers are constantly on fire. That Unaligned can manage to take any song as it charts and launches itself upon new trails at the drop of a coin is impressive on its own. They are both excercising serious restraint and also showing that they’ve said what they needed to say – purpose fulfilled – when they neatly tie off a track and plow forward into building the next one.

A Form Beyond is eight distinct journeys through cosmic inspiration, morbid fascination, and philosophical exploration. It may not fully justify the twenty-seven or so genre tags that Unaligned probably walk away with by the time A Form Beyond wraps up, but what is here makes a good case for musical pyrotechnics being just as fun as they’ve always been.

https://unaligned-label.bandcamp.com/album/a-form-beyond
https://www.facebook.com/UnalignedOfficial