So many bands in today’s modern era of extreme metal have always stayed the course and with Colorado’s technical death metal crafters Allegaeon is concerned, these guys have created some of the finest achievements in their career. With multiple records being released, Damnum is the latest chapter by the band and truth be told, if you know Allegaeon and their sound, expect some differences musically and progressively speaking because while this album is heavily relying on having technical death metal arrangements, they’ve decided to go more into a melodic death metal approach making this the most exciting and accessible records they’ve done to date. Since the band been on Metal Blade Records, Damnum is a record that not only it really caught be me by a instant surprise, this is a gamechanger in the modern-day era of technical and melodic death metal.
Everything from the vocals, guitars, production, drums and accessibility on Damnum is full of imagination, headbanging wonders and I felt they’ve stepped up the plate 110% making the songs give it a emotional state which the contexts of the record really showcased themselves how much creativity and uniqueness they’ve made on this album. Since the last album being 2019’s Apoptosis, this follows the same realm in terms of style, sound progression and lyricism. Right off the bat, the overall sounds is wonderful as it transitioned into a much more creative and incredibly mixed songs brings out whole new dynamics for these musicians in which they brought the musicianship, dynamism and progressions to such great heights that any fans of extreme music will definitely enjoy this album front to finish without any hesitation.
There’s moments throughout the album where I hear many musical influences on the new album from The Black Dahlia Murder, Psycroptic, The Faceless and Arsis which songs such as Called Home, Only Loss, Into Embers and Bastards Of The Earth are diverse, tighter, stronger, more technical and extremely well varied where every track showcases emotion, progression and the musicianship is the highlight on this record. From the technical death metal structures, audible vocal deliveries and extreme musical signatures, Allegaeon have once again proved themselves that technical death metal is not about complexity, it’s about showcasing the musician’s talent. This album has brutality, technicality and progressive structures just perfectly without any sorts of the instrumentals feeling forcefully rushed or hesitated by the album’s interpretation. These guys brought deliverance, consistency and a focused based album that surely found their sound where to be aimed for. Damnum is Allegaeon’s matured, naturalized and engaging albums the band has done to date.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
