Last year, technical death metal saw a fantastic release by the well-respected Canadian band Gorguts with their album Colored Sands. It had been a long while since I had heard some technical death metal that was truly memorable and mind blowing. Archspire, residing also from Canada, are taking their own shot at technical death metal and come with some pretty substantial and surprising results. Complex drums, frantically fast guitars, and an undertaking to annihilate everything in their path is what is comprised of their sophomore album, The Lucid Collective.

The album begins with a great build up having a simple yet heavy and riff that creeps towards more destructive patterns shortly after. Lucid Collective Somnambulation vamps things up at the most intense levels, and shows very little sign that this album will ever ease up on speed and its overall destructive nature. Solos are extremely superb and are well crafted for technical death metal. Scream Feeding also showcases that not only are guitars and drums at break neck speeds, but the vocals follow suit with the same quick and brutal consistency.

Drumming is no doubt extremely impressive within Archspire. Fantastically frantic and multifaceted the drums are throughout the entire piece striving for heavy and mercilessly sweet blast beating as well as very rapid double bass. Vocals are wild and brutal, such as the opening of Fathom Infinite Depth. Just about every second of this album is coated in a heaven of technicality, whether it is within drumming, guitars, or even the vocals, this is a 34 minute brutal venture.

Seven Crowns and the Oblivion Chain really is the true show stealer found on the album. Its overall complexity and variety from both guitars and drums are malicious and vast in sound. There’s a bit of a slowing down later on with the track Kairos Chamber which contains cleaner guitars with a bit of a creepy twang, but doesn’t tread on the soft atmosphere long before it explodes once again in an intense fury of slaughtering death metal. But this time around, Archspire gets a little simpler with heavier and simple riffing, but this instrumental track is a very fitting addition to this album of complete and utter chaos.

What can I say about Archspire? These guys are insanely intense and are a very surprising find among the technical death metal genre. They hold little back with their sophomore album and come out technically strong and furious with The Lucid Collective. The sheer intensity and complicated guitars and drums make for a chaotic and fun filled ride from start to finish.