Just when you thought technical death metal can't get any more insane, out comes the latest from California's Decrepit Birth, Polarity. Now signed to the mighty Nuclear Blast, Decrepit Birth pick up right where they left off with Diminishing Between Worlds, which was a major league concoction of technical, progressive death metal.
The incredible thing about this wonderful extreme metal album is how damn melodic it is despite its complex and brutal nature. That's right folks, plenty melodic, yet downright brutal and off the charts technical. Check out the gorgeous acoustic guitar passages (seemingly an homage to Opeth) that briefly appear in the otherwise gargantuan ripper "(A Departure of The Sun) Ignite The Tesla Coil", as well as the blast beat mayhem & dazzling riff-o-rama of "Metatron", two complete mind-fuckers that kick off this album and reel you in from the start. Bill Robinson's unearthly growls & croaks provide the perfect foil for Matt Sotelo's intricate riffs & blinding solos, all the while Joel Horner's bass and KC Howard's drums blaze away undeath the chaos.
The leads here are unreal, shared between Sotelo and Dan Eggers (their live 2nd guitarist who helped out on some of the studio tracks here), giving Decrepit Birth plenty of 'shred-worthy' characteristics. The two trade some absolutely blistering leads on the mindblowing title track, and the wild yet melodic "Solar Impulse" shows Sotelo laying down layers of staccato riffs and intricate lead fills. "A Brief Odyssey of Time" has a futuristic feel thanks to some bubbling synths & jackhammer blast beats from Howard, while the two instrumentals "Sea of Memories" and "Darkness Embrace" give the listener a taste of how far these guys have come, as they deliver tasty progressive metal dripping with virtuoso chops, atmosphere, and melody. Perhaps the most crushing piece here though is the rampaging "Symbiosis", a relentless number filled with more bombastic riffs, blinding leads, evil growls, and dizzying blast beats than you can possibly imagine, yet it's all focused and tight as hell.
A nice touch is their cover of the Death classic "See Through Dreams", which is a bonus track on the digipak release. It's a killer way to close out this utterly enjoyable release from Decrepit Birth, a CD that all technical death metal releases will ultimately be compared to here in 2010. Polarity is about as close to perfection as you can get, and is a must hear for anyone into brutal, technical, and melodic death metal.
Track Listing
1. (A Departure of The Sun) Ignite The Tesla Coil
2. Metatron
3. Resonance
4. Polarity
5. Solar Impulse
6. Mirroring Dimensions
7. A Brief Odyssey In Time
8. The Quickening of Time
9. Sea of Memories
10. Symbiosis
11. Darkness Embrace
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