Archaeon, Vanitas

Boston’s Archaeon play a brand of technical death metal leaning toward the more brutal side of things. Within this four track, self released EP you’ll find plenty of tempo changes, deep guttural belches and growls, bruising breakdowns and pile driving drums. While technical in aspect, Vanitas and its slabs of down tuned riffs have more of a slamming death metal feel that keeps it from being lumped into a generic deathcore label.

Guitarists Grant Evans and Brian Martins lob caustic riffs and sinew shredding leads at each other’s heads like molotov cocktails as bassist Mike Lefman and drummer Eliot Bayless lay down some supremely heavy rhythms. Carlos Moran’s guttural growls and belches fit the lumbering feel of this disc perfectly.

Memento Mori…
The opening instrumental starts off slowly with light bass work as massive riffs and heavy drums come in shortly after hitting “play.” There’s an interesting, jazzy bass line that weaves in and out of riffs and the driving double bass. The two minute track ends with a brief sound clip from the film The Fountains.

Amaranthine Fugue
Now that we get into the meat of this EP, Archaeon start the cranial bludgeoning with massive riffs and rapid fire drum work. Moran’s vocals come in about 30 seconds into the song and are comprised of unrecognizable growls and gurgles. Several explosive tempo changes pepper this mid-tempo monster as seizure inducing breakdowns hit just before the two minute mark. There is some serious activity on the drum kit at the three minute mark that’s quickly followed by a series of solos from Evans and Martins.

Esurient Fount (The Risen Nephilim)
I’m digging the memorable riff work and rolling drums that start off this next song. There’s a pretty decent groove to this one despite the technical time changes and riffing. The vocals come in after the one minute mark and are comprised of two layered deliveries. I love the funky little bass line that rears it’s head around 2:20 as the rest of the band take time to deflesh a small farm animal in preparation for the sacrifice. There is an utterly massive breakdown at the 3:28 mark that will leave your insides rotten and festering.

Insidious Reign
The final track on the EP starts off with some creative riff and drum work before the group settles into a mid-tempo pace with the growled vocals. There are a couple of slick leads mid song that help break up the chugging riffs that the band utilizes to beat you senseless. The second half of the track has some pretty technical guitar work in conjunction with heavy drum work.

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It’s usually hard to gauge a band on just a handful of songs, but what Arcaheon has thrown into the mix with this EP is more than enough to raise the interest of most metal heads. Crushing riffs, monster rhythms and demonic, guttural growls await you with this peek into the potential of this Boston, MA five piece.

Favorite Tracks:
All of them

Additional Notes:
N/A