While certainly death metal in 2008 is on the upswing with releases by Brain Drill, Decrepit Birth, and Hate Eternal, the fact is death metal is still just death metal. However, Origin, after four albums of complex yet relatively singular and forgetful speed, have now fully embraced and developed songwriting chops hinted ever-so-slightly on 2006’s Echoes of Decimation and raised the ante of what death metal should be.
Antithesis is simply monstrous. It’s voraciously fast, heavy, and complex. It’s rare a death metal album that of this velocity can command your absolute attention from start to finish. Rejoined by original members Jeremy Turner (guitar) and drummer-for-hire John Longstreth, a tangible energy has returned to the band. Also, Antithesis sees guitarist Paul Ryan and bassist Mike Flores not only continuing to prove that speed kills, but also sweep arpeggios played at 1,000 mph will, in fact, turn any listener into a slavering, drooling mess.
Starting with brain-melter “The Aftermath”, Antithesis shows Ryan, at his most adventurous, with guitar work that will make your jaw drop. Nay, detach from your fucking face. Then, after three tracks of blistering, controlled tenacity — these cuts simply shame 90 percent of the gurgle/blast squads presently making the rounds — another truly stunning, arpeggio-meets-blastbeat mindfuck in the form of “Finite” rears its algorithmically deformed head.
Whereas Origin have more often than not been a speed-for-speed’s sake kind of band, the material on Antithesis seems drenched with a precise sense of over-the-top dynamics and intellectual savagery. Every single note counts. This is this no more apparent than on the closing trio of “Ubiquitous,” “The Beyond Within,” and the nine-minute closing title track. Yes, Origin play a nine-minute song. While Deeds of Flesh (“The Endurance”) tried their hand at epic yet brutal complexity, Origin manage to make their continual onslaught stick for its brutal entirety. It closes the album in breathtaking fashion.
While there have been superb death metal albums this year, Origin — even with the standard scream/growl vocals and clinical production — didn’t raise the bar for death metal. They obliterated it.
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coolest death metal review I have ever read. omygod this album is the shiz, great stuff.
on Apr 9th, 2008 at 18:12FUCK YEAH! from the moment i heard ‘The Aftermath’ I knew Origin had taken it to the next level.
on Apr 10th, 2008 at 01:17With all the praise and slobbering this album has been getting, and my tastes continuously expanding into more death metal, I need to check this album out – never been a fan before though.
on Apr 10th, 2008 at 04:59great review, as always! i still need to listen to this a few more times before i decide whether or not it beats the new HE.
on Apr 10th, 2008 at 12:25This is the first album by Origin that I’ve actually liked, and it blew me away.
on Apr 10th, 2008 at 18:55I may give this one a try, … I just haven’t found their earlier albums to be at all interesting – they’re all just generic blastbeats, grunts, and re-hashed riffs.
Is this one actually a progression from the others? If not, why bother?
on Apr 13th, 2008 at 12:11I love this cd. That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to it straight through. The first breakdown riff on “algorithm” is just brutal. I read that Paul Ryan warms up sometimes by playing Yngwie’s trilogy suite on guitar. Jerk.
on Dec 26th, 2011 at 20:02