The fifth studio album from Canada's technical melodic death metallers Neuraxis also happens to be their first for Prosthetic Records. The Thin Line Between also is the first studio release with singer Alex Leblanc and second guitarist William Seghers (they both appeared on the band's Live Progression CD from 2007). The line-up changes seemed to have kicked these guys in the ass just a tad, as The Thin Line Between sounds like a more focused Neuraxis, the songs more in your face, and while still technical and progressive, the brutal death metal side of the band is in full force throughout. Seghers and Rob Milley come up with plenty of massive crunch-o-rama here, especially on tunes like "Deviation Occurs", "Darkness Prevails", and the complex ripper "Wicked", and their layers of intricate harmonies & riffs on the epic title track just adds wonders to this progressive extreme metal gem. Drummer Tommy McKinnon adds plenty of blasts and double bass drum mayhem alongside his rhythm partner Yan Thiel on bass guitar, whose bottom end rumblings adds the groove to the brutal yet highly melodic tracks. LeBlanc has a deep growl that fits the music quite well, although there are times you'd wish he'd mix things up a bit, but overall he's a solid death metal growler, raging like a maniacal madman through tunes like "Oracle" and "Dreaming the End".
Hard not to really dig this stuff, Neuraxis thankfully not trying to sound like some of the more recent technical extreme metal acts out of Canada, but instead seemingly paying homage to the great Gorguts somewhat with their style of brutal & intricate death metal (ironically, former Gorguts leader & current Negativa guitarist Luc Lemay adds backing vocals to a few tracks here). Recommended.
Track Listing
01. Darkness Prevails [4:28]
02. Wicked [5:00]
03. Versus [4:34]
04. Deviation Occurs [5:05]
05. The Thin Line Between [8:32]
06. Dreaming the End [4:22]
07. Standing Despite [1:29]
08. Oracle [3:52]
09. Phoenix [5:12]
10. The All and the Nothing [5:07]
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