origin abiogenesis

Origin's Origins Clearer Than Ever on "Lethal Manipulation the Bone Crusher Chronicles"

origin abiogenesis

Founded in Kansas in 1997, cosmically brutal tech-death entity Origin has since stood at the forefront of their genre, pushing the limits of speed and intensity into new realms. Creating hymns to the cold vacuum of space from which they were spawned, the band has established an idiosyncratic, otherworldly interpretation of death metal over the past two decades that continues to retain its immediately identifiable character. The group’s latest endeavor, however, will shift its focus from forward-thinking innovation to instead explore the earliest foundations of their material, the origins of Origin’s sound so to speak.

Presenting a full anthology of the outfit’s earliest era, their new album Abiogenesis: A Coming Into Existence will stand as a compilation consisting of every Origin track written prior to their self-titled debut record. Having taken up the monumental task of re-recording all instrumentals and vocals, as well as re-mastering all of the album’s tracks himself, founding Origin member Paul Ryan has now delivered a fully re-imagined version of eight previously unreleased tracks from the 1990 to 1993 pre-Origin era of the band, as well as a re-recording of their debut EP A Coming Into Existence. From the latter part (the release’s second disc), check out an exclusive stream of “Lethal Manipulation the Bone Crusher Chronicles” below.

Filtered through a deliciously vintage aesthetic of grimy 1990s OSDM, “Lethal Manipulation the Bone Crusher Chronicles” showcases a more stripped-down, straightforward version of Origin’s compositional style and performance techniques. Clocking in at a relatively short two minutes and change, the song wastes no time in thrusting the listener into the brooding existential dungeon of the group’s signature breakneck double-bass and tremolo destruction, albeit with a more heavy-handed approach than their later more lithe material. The track contains no shortage of the guttural vocals and frightening, cavernous riffs that Origin has since perfected, but its texture is decidedly more old-school, taking clear inspiration from the late 1980s and early 1990s death metal scene that was thriving during that era. Even though the track is a fully modernized version of the same track from Origin’s debut EP, it is now endowed with the vastly improved production and engineering technologies of today, bringing new life and clarity to this once-muddied track.

This contemporary rendering on Abiogenesis: A Coming Into Existence is a demonstration of the immensity of Origin’s artistic consistency through the years: though the texture and ambience of these early tracks are markedly different than that of the Origin of today, the thematic and musical qualities that define the group had clearly already begun to take root, laying the groundwork for the universal enigma into which they have now flourished.

Abiogenesis: A Coming Into Existence releases May 3rd via Agonia Records — stream two other songs from the album via Bandcamp. Pre-orders can be had here.

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