If there is one subgenre of metal that is easy to mess up,
it has to be technical death metal. Since evolving from the brilliance of bands
like Death and Atheist, into the more complicated work done by Suffocation, the
genre has felt the need to go even further. It feels as if a lot of these bands
try to fit as many blast beats onto an album while also managing to spend 40-50
minutes sweep picking with no apparent direction. Why this has become popular,
I’ll never really understand, but the good news is that there are still bands
out there trying to make quality technical death metal.
Kamikabe definitely comes from the newer school of death metal,
but they do everything right. For one thing, this record is short. When you
remove the intro and interlude, you are left with 31 minutes of music,
including a 7-minute atmospheric epic. The songwriting matches this
accordingly: you aren’t going to find your mind wandering during this condensed
slab of music. This is no more apparent than in the fantastic drumming of BJ
Sarnese. This man is an absolute beast of a rhythm machine. His work is extremely creative and there is some of everything: blast beats, thrashier patterns, double bass (there’s no
shortage of this!), and unique fills. Likewise, the guitars are another
highlight of the record. They manage to be technical in a way common to both
old and new tech death metal. There are an endless amount of riffs that sound as if
they were written for a melodeath band and then played at twice the speed;
however, there are also plenty of chugging parts that would not be out of place
on a more brutal style played by bands such as Pathology. To accommodate the
more conservative fans of death metal, this record also has plenty of speedy tremolo-picked
riffs. Another brillant move by Kamikabe is the incorporation of guitar
solos. They aren’t plentiful, but the fact that they exist on a record like
this (see: “The Process Within”) shows that this band has a bit more attention
to melody in their sound.
It might just be my personal bias, but I’ve always felt like
this sound is one that is more of an “in the moment” listening experience. After
several listens, there are very few parts memorable parts, but that doesn’t
mean “Aberration of Man” isn’t a great record while it lasts. If you are a
major fan of this style of music, this is absolutely going to be one of your
favourite albums of the year. I would probably listen to a lot more technical
death metal if it all sounded like this!
Be sure to check out and like Kamikabe on Facebook!
Highlights
All of it!
Final Rating
4.0/5 or 80%.
Written by Scott