Blending hallucinatory technicality and one astonishing sense of striking melody into one sole album wrap-up is a challenge quite a wide community of bands have been undertaking over time, and it’s gotta be said that hitting each fucking minute mark with just the right balance of both elements is a uniquely gifted talent to have. Outcast brings its own take on that ever-so-wonderful mathematical equation with one dead fucking apt pull on each possible creative nerve present into that sumptuously caliginous and multi-dimensional avenue of sonic stomp. Awaken the Reason is these French blasters’ third record to date, and it ain’t no smattering of water-under-the-bridge, overweening and competitional wank-offs; it’s got some bloody strength of character and will stand the test of time for its organic and sincere chemical grandness.

”Elements” already jumps off the politically correct and juvenile bridge of reunion for the trendy yahoo skanks overpopulating the scene to bravely and shamelessly stagger on with a less than wimpy take on brutal tech death complexity. It sparks up the engines with one feverish and sharp attack, leading into the strongly applaudable ”Abysmal” that I’d identify as the cue point for melodic fervor, sounding like a reasonable mix of Gojira and Obscura influences with one bold and vicious backbone. The vocalist’s animalistic and nuanced approach works awesomely in all ranges of tone, yanking on the emotional chains just as much as on the bloodlusting ropes in this body of mine, plodding on through this batch of songs with one impressive consistency. The sharp n’quick ”A Solace From the Shade” is a catchy and mighty sweet bullet-firing piece of work that very chaotically meshes brutal death build-ups with neat-o progressive tempo shift experimentations, followed directly by what I wouldn’t have expected to be a full-on piano piece, but let me just say that this film-score-worthy and suitably dramatic trip into the root of classical ambiance that is ”Awaken the Reason -Part IV: When Dawn Brings Clarity” fits pretty damn well among this lot of songs, being a cool as fuck intro for the massively ape schizophrenia brain-kick waiting on the grill.

”Spin Angular Moments” is, hands down, my favorite track on this album, perfectly interlacing gripping melodic landscapes with stubbornly and positively bizarre tech tantrums that simply get the heart rate on a roll. ”Unspoken” is intent on heading down the no-speed-limit road of strongly savage and well- aligned build-ups. ”Isolation” is the longest track on here, and over the span of its 9 or so minutes, it throat-grabs friggin’ adamantly with its powerful wealth of emotion. The leads are of the unforgettable type, and the choruses are admittedly strong enough to make that one song another heck of a pleasant and raging highlight. ”Fallen Years” brings back the enjoyable tech jams on board, and ”What Would Be My Final Command?” has a mighty interesting collection of equally scientific parts surrounding a central zone of splendidly inspiring soloing. ”Man’s Last Failure” is an epic roller coaster of razor sharp punches that classify it as one rad and original piece that charges straight into a final cut that goes even further into rather libertine jam-like breakouts that truly showcase Outcast‘s own gene in that wide family of tech brutal death enthusiasts quite daringly, firing up my zealous anticipations for a fourth album of this stupefyingly fucking mint type of songwriting.

Toss this one right at the top of the totem pole. It’s earning its spot up there with every waking moment of each of its eleven tracks and may cause one absurdly overblown craving for additional helpings.

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