Canada never ceases to amaze me with their wealth of technically proficient extreme metal acts. Bands like Into Eternity, Strapping Young Lad, Divinity and Quo Vadis have blown my mind time and time again. Once again, I’ve come across another of such bands, this time being the oddly and utterly atrociously named Deeply Confused, a Montreal based and unsigned band who combine tech-mined compositions with melody, a strong sense of song and a touch of atmosphere for outstanding results.

The E.P. is book-ended by short and mostly pointless instrumentals, leaving five tracks as the meat and potatoes of the offering. These five tracks though are superb examples of technical metal that doesn’t lose sight of the song, rather than meander into outright schizophrenic wankery that many bands of their ilk get lost in. Keyboards are nearly always present to provide a subtle yet eerie sounding atmosphere. The transitions from more straight forward riffs and melodic sections to the choppy and spastic are smooth and seamless. Vocals are mostly on the deeper, death metal end of the spectrum, but at times touch on raspy or scream-y styles. The rhythm section is tied down well with some solid skin bashing and unique symbol work, but the bass is just stellar, and surprisingly audible. The thing that jumps out the most to me though is the lead and solo work, which is always spectacular. At times all out shred, and at others tasteful and soulful, the solos always grabbed my attention – the ax-work in “Stuck in the Tracffic with Kip Winger” is particularly notable and the instances numerous. The album also sports one of the best productions I’ve ever heard in an unsigned act, courtesy of the band and one Jean-Philippe Latour.

Despite the terrible band name, Deeply Confused have given us an excellent and promising debut E.P., which I can fully endorse to anyone who likes their metal on the tech side of things. I look forward to what they do next, and hopefully with the backing of a good label.

[Visit the band's website]

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