Metal Reviews

I have the hardest time understanding this band as I just recently purchased Contradictions collapse, the music isn't so bad as it just happens to fade into the background. But for those who've fully digested the band's discography and are able to give an informed opinion, how has the band matured and what albums/songs transcend the bulk of their latter releases? Their formula is widely replicated in the forms of djent bands with a tad bit of hardcore, but could you see this as being an eventuality with songs such as "Humiliative"? Is the music truly as technical as everyone says with those poly-rhythms, or is the band overrated entirely in terms of their most venerated albums?

They are love and hate, but I'm really glad they exist, despite the pale imitators they've spawned.

I have a mix from all their material post Contradictions Collapse (which is a fine album, but really different from everything else), which works much better for me than listening through most of their full albums. In terms of technicality, their drummer Thomas Haake is a wonder, but the rest of their supposed technicality (something they've never talked up in interviews, but rather their adoring fans celebrate) seems overblown.

Strangely, the only things I could enjoy from them were Catch 33 & I. Those two just clicked. I sampled pretty much everything else they've released and while there's a shitload of ideas, I find it mal-constructed and boring.

I've only heard Nothing and Catch 33. I like Meshuggah well enough, and they have their own style which I can respect, but they tend to get massively overhyped and ripped off by pretty much everyone. I mean, the whole "Djent" thing is based off of sounding like Meshuggah. It can get kinda tiresome.

Still a good band, though, won't let the hype ruin it for me.

I've gotten into these guys over the past little while and I honestly can't remember the last time I was impressed so quickly by a band. Perhaps that's just due to a lack of exposure to similar types of bands/musical styles but I've quickly become a fan of them.

I haven't gotten Contradictions Collapse or Destroy Erase Improve yet but I've listened to the majority of their stuff after and as far as I'm concerned they kick ass.

I heard them up to the I EP.

Opinion on Contradictions Collapse is same as yours.

I like Destroy Erase Improve a lot. A bit of variety and some truly demented stuff.

After that they turn to tedium.

For example Nothing seems like one long boring midpaced riff.

What no love for Chaosphere?

I have love for Chaosphere.

Chaosphere was shite IMO. Though still infinitely better than Nothing or I and still better than the couple of songs I've heard from their new albums.

I'm the opposite. I think it's their best next to DEI because I like the technical aspects and the heaviness of the album.

I never thought much of DEI. Everyone remembers and loves Future Breed Machine, and I liked Sublevels and Beneath, while the rest is mainly a blur. Chaosphere is probably the only album of theirs I can listen to the whole way through, but by and large I think taking the choice tracks from each album and sticking them together works best (Future Breed Machine, Bleed, New Millennium, Rational Gaze, etc.). That might also explain why I and Catch Thirty Three worked.

Only ever got into I and Catch33. Their riffing style is distinctive as fuck, which is cool, but their albums are too dry and monochromatic for me.

You basically expressed my thoughts better than I was able to...

I'm a pretty big fan. I've got:

DEI
Chaosphere
I
Catch 33
Obzen

I've (regrettably) sold:
Contradictions Collapse
Nothing

DEI is where they first started to find their djent sound, and is one of my favorites. Chaosphere is where they perfected it, and is probably the LEAST melodic album I own. It's strange how I can enjoy listening to them playing the same note like 64 different ways.

Nothing and Chaos 33 were pretty meh for me, but I love Obzen. I think it's a really good starting point for people not familiar with the band. They've used 8 string guitars on Nothing, I, Catch 33, and Obzen. For most of the riffs they wrote on those first three albums I listed, it sounds like they are just grinding on that ultra-low F# and maybe using the first 5 frets. Obzen is where they actually move up and down the neck though, writing some thrashy-ass riffs that would sound cool on a regular 6 string.