Fractal Generator - Macrocosmos
Everlasting Spew Records
Death Metal
9 songs (42:18)
Release year: 2021
Everlasting Spew Records
Reviewed by Goat

The universe is an unimaginably huge, frightening void, mostly filled with nothingness. In the fullness of history, our impact on it will be less than the touch of a fly on an elephant. Human existence, from the day our ancestors arose from the primordial swamps to the last gasp of our descendants as they watch the dying sun, will barely be long enough to be worth notice to the black holes and gas giants that will be birthed and disintegrated in the billions of years surrounding us. Not the most cheerful of thoughts even when we're fighting off the Plague Angels down here on Earth, and so for Canadian trio Fractal Generator to make that the topic of their experimental type of brutal / technical death metal could be taken as insulting. Yet so well do they implement it into their sound that it's hard to do anything but enjoy it!

Somewhere between Wormed's bleak brutality and the more cerebral acts like Gorguts in style, Macrocosmos serves up a side salad of sci-fi that can raise its head multiple ways, such as the subtle symphonic backing to the opening title track with its scurrying, almost blackened riffs. Even for a brutal death metal band, this is nicely varied stuff, the jagged guitars and choppy technicality of Aeon bringing the relentless heaviness of the likes of Dying Fetus and Zyklon to mind, followed smoothly by the Nile-esque assault of Serpentine, the first place the backing electronics make an appearance on the album. And they're a great addition whenever they appear, not taking the spotlight from the metallic heaviness but adding a creepy, alien sinisterness to the atmosphere that elevates Fractal Generator's music even more. These elements are woven in so well that it can be hard to notice them at times, at others allowing for a brief pause before the death metal slams back in. And the foundation of the band's music is so solid that the likes of the stormy Contagion would be great without those subtle electronic squeals.

With them, of course, Macrocosmos is elevated even more. The worst you can say about, for instance, the blackened digitally-enhanced rumble that closes the Corpsing-esque brutality of Chaosphere is that it cuts out a little abruptly; it's hard to pick a bad moment overall. And the glitchy, eccentric Shadows of Infinity works even better as a result of the electronics, the slightly thrashier riffs a nice change-up before returning to the blunt heaviness of Pendulum. Goes without saying that the members of Fractal Generator (known here by such monikers as 040118180514) are all clearly fantastic musicians, with long-term experience in multiple other acts and more than obvious songwriting skills that shines through in little decisions like the groovier, relatively catchy Primordial being placed later in the tracklisting to allow battered ears something of a rest, as heavy as it still is. A fine, well-crafted album that does its job of wrecking necks, but also reminds you that space is the scary place it is. Recommended.

Killing Songs :
Macrocosmos, Serpentine, Shadows of Infinity
Goat quoted 82 / 100
Other albums by Fractal Generator that we have reviewed:
Fractal Generator - Apotheosynthesis reviewed by Andy and quoted 77 / 100
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