Faithxtractor's Remorseless Death Metal Eviscerates Cyclic Conformity: "Relative First Occurrence" (Early Track Stream)
Death metal is a genre where new music often seems to only exist in comparison to its prior works. Read through reviews of any up-and-coming death metal band and you’ll see seasoned aficionados break each track down to the three or four bands that may have inspired its riffs, detecting notes of Immolation and hints of Morbid Angel like goddamn riff sommeliers. There’s nothing explicitly wrong with this (except please, no more track-by-track reviews), but sometimes it’s nice to listen to a chunky, mean riff and not subconsciously be able to lay out its pedigree.
Faithxtractor are clearly aligned with me on this, as their new single “Relative First Occurrence” takes a growling look at humanity’s sometimes frustrating propensity for imitation. And sure, any forensic death metal expert could probably lay out the Ohio band’s genetic code too, but their new record Contempt for a Failed Dimension overall seems unconcerned with fitting one archetype or another. What matters here is the mood and the execution: the former grim, the latter superb. The album sets about creating portraits of nihilism, scorn, and failure through a combination of blazing momentum and bleak, plodding dirges–mostly leaning towards the former, but there’s enough fragments of death-doom in here to convince listeners that the band knows how to pen some excellently dour melodies.
This isn’t so much skull-smashing death metal as it is soul-stealing, and I appreciate the change of pace. Contempt for a Failed Dimension is overtly sinister–a vile thing of enjoyably unclear origins.
Stream “Relative First Occurrence” below and read a statement from the band.
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The band comments:
This song is about humankind being on repeat, & how each new generation can pass off old ideas as new so long as timing is on their side. I’m not pretending to be reinventing the wheel over here, but the main goal of creativity should be innovation over emulation not repeat & steal.
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Contempt for a Failed Dimension releases January 20th, 2023.
