Pittsburgh technical death metal wrecking crew VICTIMS OF CONTAGION are preparing to unleash their new album, Egregore โ promising hyper-speed extremity, neoclassical madness, blackened tremolo assaults and grooves heavy enough to rearrange your internal organs. ๐ค๐
Yep. Sounds suitably horrible.
We mean that as the highest possible compliment.
The Pennsylvania metallers are taking everything theyโve developed across nearly two decades in the underground and pushing it into considerably darker, faster and more technically ambitious territory.
If your idea of a relaxing afternoon involves blast beats, polyrhythms and guitarists seemingly possessing eight fingers on each hand, pull up a chair, butt.
This could get tasty. ๐ฅ
๐ธ WELCOME TO โEGREGOREโ
With Egregore, VICTIMS OF CONTAGION are expanding upon their established combination of intricate, high-speed musicianship, neoclassical arrangements and progressive song structures.
Rather than technicality simply for the sake of showing off, the bandโs approach sees multiple corners of extreme metal thrown together and allowed to fight it out.
Thereโs old-school death metal brutality rubbing shoulders with complex polyrhythmic compositions, while hyper-accelerated tempos collide with blackened tremolo passages and more atmospheric moments.
Then, just when youโve managed to work out whatโs happeningโฆ
BANG.
Here comes the groove. ๐๐จ
Itโs the sort of organised musical violence technical death metal does brilliantly when everything clicks into place.
And VICTIMS OF CONTAGION appear determined to make Egregore the definitive blueprint for their increasingly dynamic sound.
๐ TECHNICAL โ BUT STILL ABSOLUTELY SAVAGE
Thereโs always a balancing act with technical death metal.
Go too far in one direction and youโve basically got four incredibly talented musicians solving mathematical equations while somebody growls over them.
Go too far in the other and you lose the intricate musicianship that makes tech-death such an addictive rabbit hole in the first place.
VICTIMS OF CONTAGION are aiming directly for the sweet spot.
Egregore is described as a record built around high-energy extremity, combining blistering tempos and detailed arrangements with enough crushing grooves to keep the music physical.
Because sometimes you want to admire the technical brilliance.
And sometimes you just want a riff that makes your head involuntarily move like youโre trying to headbutt a wardrobe.
Why not have both? ๐ค๐
๐ค INTO THE DARKNESS
Thereโs more going on here than sheer velocity.
Throughout Egregore, the band weave blackened tremolo passages and majestic atmospheric elements between the recordโs more ferocious moments.
That contrast promises to give the album a sense of scale beyond simply attempting to break the land-speed record with blast beats.
Darkness hangs heavily over the material, with every passing moment designed to pull the listener deeper into the bandโs world.
And this isnโt material thrown together in five minutes after somebody discovered a particularly nasty guitar tone.
According to the band, every note on Egregore was written, performed and recorded with painstaking attention to detail.
For music this complex, that matters.
The riffs need to lock.
The rhythms need to land.
The chaos needs to somehow remain controlled.
When youโve got polyrhythms, progressive structures, neoclassical elements and old-school death metal all sharing the same rehearsal room, somebody needs to know where the bloody map is.
๐ฅ๐๐ฅ
๐บ๐ธ NEARLY TWO DECADES OF CONTAGION
Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, VICTIMS OF CONTAGION have been grinding away in the extreme metal underground since 2007.
Thatโs nearly two decades of riffs, gigs, demos, touring and presumably explaining to relatives at family gatherings what exactly โtechnical death metalโ means.
The bandโs early years were spent working the underground touring circuit while independently releasing a series of demos and steadily developing their sound.
Then came a major step forward.
In 2014, VICTIMS OF CONTAGION released their debut EP:
๐ Parasitic Unborn
Five years later, the band followed it with their debut full-length album:
๐ฅ Lamentations of the Flesh Bound โ 2019
Those releases helped establish the foundations of the bandโs musical identity.
Now, with Egregore, theyโre looking to take that foundation and mutate it into something considerably more ambitious.
โก OLD-SCHOOL BRUTALITY MEETS MODERN TECHNICAL CHAOS
Perhaps one of the most interesting elements surrounding Egregore is the bandโs willingness to retain the physical brutality of old-school death metal while embracing increasingly complex arrangements.
Technical death metal has evolved enormously over the decades.
The genre can be surgical.
Progressive.
Atmospheric.
Neoclassical.
Utterly ridiculous.
Sometimes all during the same 45 seconds.
But underneath all that musicianship, the best tech-death still needs to hit.
Thatโs where those crushing grooves become important.
Egregore isnโt promising a sterile exercise in technical ability.
Itโs promising something that can twist your brain into a pretzel before promptly booting you directly into the pit.
And frankly, thatโs exactly how we like it.
๐ฅ VICTIMS OF CONTAGION ARE ENTERING THEIR NEXT ERA
After forming in 2007, grinding through the underground circuit and steadily building their catalogue, Egregore represents another major chapter for VICTIMS OF CONTAGION.
The band arenโt simply repeating what came before.
Theyโre pushing further.
Faster tempos.
More intricate structures.
Darker atmospheres.
Blackened passages.
Neoclassical complexity.
And, thankfully, big horrible death metal grooves.
Lovely stuff. ๐๐
For existing followers, Egregore looks set to offer an evolution of the technical brutality that has defined VICTIMS OF CONTAGION.
For newcomers?
Wellโฆ
Consider this your warning.
๐ค KEEP VICTIMS OF CONTAGION ON YOUR RADAR
Technical death metal fans should definitely keep VICTIMS OF CONTAGION firmly on the radar as Egregore approaches.
Nearly twenty years after the bandโs formation, the Pittsburgh metallers sound determined to push their music deeper into technically demanding and increasingly atmospheric territory without sacrificing the sheer violence at its core.
If you like your death metal fast, progressive, technical, blackened, atmospheric and capable of making musicians stare at their instruments wondering why they even bothered learning them, Egregore could be well worth investigating.
Get those neck muscles warmed up.
Youโre probably going to need them. ๐๐ฅ๐ค
๐ VICTIMS OF CONTAGION โ โEGREGOREโ
Band: VICTIMS OF CONTAGION
Album: Egregore
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Formed: 2007
๐ฅ THE RIFF REPORT
From the Welsh valleys to the darkest corners of the international metal underground, The Riff Report is always hunting for another riff.
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๐ค Zero Apologies.
Support underground metal. Support independent bands. And keep it absolutely filthy, butt. ๐๐ธ๐ฅ
