Photo Credit: Stephanie Cabral
The Swarm” is the latest video/single from technical death metal architects, ALLEGAEON. The track comes off the band’s forthcoming new full-length, The Ossuary Lens, set for release on April 4th via Metal Blade Records.
Notes guitarist Greg Burgess of today’s “The Swarm” single, “This is a piece written by [guitarist] Michael Stancel. The frantic intro riff was actually written on tour in the UK on a boat in Bristol. I remember filming him playing it so we wouldn’t forget how to play it. The show was sold out and ruled, and then all of our gear got rained on because they had us load out so they could have a disco after the show. Shame!”
Remembers Stancel, “If I could have set that venue adrift I would have, at least we got a song out of it.”
Find pre-orders at:
metalblade.com/allegaeon
The Ossuary Lens serves as ALLEGAEON’s seventh full-length overall, but it’s the first to feature the return of original vocalist Ezra Haynes since his 2015 departure following the Elements Of The Infinite album. Replacing a singer is no easy task, so the fact that Haynes was in a place to rejoin is reason to celebrate. The cleaner vocal approach on the last three albums was a fascinating artistic maneuver, one that refreshed ALLEGAEON, but it’s undeniably thrilling to hear Haynes’ graveled larynx back in the fold on this inarguably brutal and technically dazzling slab of work. Wrote Consequence of the first single, “Driftwood,” “Haynes’ presence has an immediate effect, his more gravelly vocal adding further extremity to Allegaeon’s hyper-technical form of death metal. Maximal drums and winding guitar lines are woven into an prog-like arrangement that ducks into ambient passages, melodic sections, and grinding riff-laden brutality.”
The Ossuary Lens, while not a concept album in the traditional sense, is a representation of several different viewpoints of death. “Each song is a different topic, however there’s always a different perspective of death tied in,” says Haynes. “Since the entire album revolves around this overarching theme of death, and the different viewpoints associated with it, we found ourselves very attached to the word ‘Ossuary,’ and since the album takes a look at death through different points of view, we found The Ossuary Lens to be very fitting for the album title.”
The record was recorded with producer Dave Otero at Flatline Audio studio in Denver. It marks the sixth album recorded with Otero. It’s of no surprise then that the sound on The Ossuary Lens pummels the listener, though the ferocity is balanced by the overt melodies. It’s the most triumphant and cohesive body of work that they’ve ever laid down.
