So, the one deathcore band I enjoy is soon releasing their new album, and I've heard literally no mention on the boards. Anyone else looking forward to it? They dropped almost all of the -core sound, and go for more of a progressive/technical death metal sound. For anyone who hasn't heard it, give it a chance, it sounds pretty damn good, though I would personally recommend the track XenoChrist. And the album artwork is pretty sweet. Hopefully, I don't just get bombarded with negative comments.

I thoroughly enjoyed Akeldama and will be sure to pick up Planetary Duality. Its just a matter of when I will get it and how. I should probably pre-order it or maybe it is too late

I wasn't impressed by Akeldama and seeing them live didn't change my mind, but if it's true the core is falling away and they're going in a prog death direction then I'll at least give it a cursory listen.

I'll be giving this a listen, but I didn't care for Akeldama all that much. Or at all.

The only song that impressed me on Akeldama was "An Autopsy", which I still do find quite enjoyable. I thought the rest of the album was kind of disposable, though. In any case, I'll definitely check out Planetary Duality when it is released. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

they play a great show, I've seen em twice now. I thought akeldama was terrific

didnt like Akeldama so much...but i've been hearing the new songs off of this album since they started posting the rough versions, it's definitely something i will take a listen to, can't promise i will like it, seeing as how bands like Abigial Williams, posted a more "Black Metal" song on their myspace, but still didn't take away the cheesy -core aspects...

I have to admit, live they were pretty decent, they didn't sound like a shitty generic deathcore band.But when I listened to their cd.. Christ, what a heap of mediocre cat shit

I decided to do what I said earlier and pre-order it. I ordered both Planetary Duality and Akeldama from the Sumerian Records website and now I am happy

I had a listen to one or two songs, thanks to Leechmaster, but they were not that impressive. Maybe I need to download the whole album to give them a go.

Its leaked by the way...

I liked 'Akeldama a bit, I'll probably check this out, especially if they have steered from the more -core aspects of their music. It really didn't fit in well and I could imagine them becoming a very good prog death band.

They're very talented, I just wish the vocalist would change pitch more often .

Listening to the album at present. I find it somewhat more enjoyable than Akeldama. There are no prolonged breakdowns or gang shouts, and so far (5/9 through the album), I have heard clean vocals only once (on the song Coldly Calculated Design), and these were brief. The production is more than satisfactory to me - great guitar tone, and the bass notes are happily discernible in the mix. However, I will say that in nearly every song, there is at least one moment where this stupid computerised, "robot" effect is used on the vocals, so it's like a droid singing. Irritating. Aside from this complaint, the vocals are chiefly standard death metal fare - they neither detract from nor greatly enhance the quality of the music. In any case, I'll reserve further judgement until I have listened to it in entirety, and a few more times. I advise you all to check it out, though.

I thought it was good. But they went a little too overboard trying to be proggy.

how the hell are u guys getting this album!? I CANT FIND IT ANYWHERE!

More boring triggered Beneath the Massacre tech death. They threw some proggy BtBaM type stuff in, which was alright, but they're still nothing extraordinary.

Are you trying to download it or buy it???

I was only able to get halfway through this album before fearing a terminal case of boredom and cranked Mercyful Fate as an antidote. They have a really sickening overabundance of that fucking Tron voice that never went the hell away on Cynic's Focus. I hated it then and time has not sweetened it. I don't know, the instrumentals just didn't tickle my fancy. It's fast, dissonant, chaotic, and this unpredictable element of technical death whatever has actually become so overused and abused that it's actually predictable.

I preordered the new one. I'm really excited for it. I loved Akeldama, and saw them live on Summer Slaughter Tour 2007. I'm seeing them again on November 20th, which will be awesome.

I'm not listening to any leaked or otherwise previewed tracks - I want to listen to the physical CD completely fresh, something I haven't experienced in a long time.

I just gave it a listen, and as I expected, it was all but worthless. The robot voice is, as just about everyone has said, stupid, and the music is boring. Interestingly the 2nd half is more interesting (starting with "Sons of Belial") but even those songs are boring with a good riff or two sprinkled throughout. It's interesting that the songs are an average of 4 minutes, but they're so mind-numbingly boring that they feel 16.

alright so yeah, ive listened to it, its OKAY...im glad I didn't buy it to be honest, some songs are better than others but its definitely only for if you're a fan of tech death.

I actually saw these guys on the Planetary Duality Tour (San Antonio, TX) this past Saturday... they were great.

This new album is waaaay better than its predecessor (IMO), it took a couple of listens to get into it, but I like the progressive parts from tracks 4 and onward. And the clean vocals are strangely catchy and extremely brief. I also dig most of the guitar solos, if not all of them. The robotic vocals are tolerable, but I don't think they're really necessary (when they play this live it is used on a sampler, not actually sung with a mic effect, which was weird). And some parts remind me of a lot of other bands (Decapitated, Meshuggah, Opeth, Beneath The Massacre, Cynic, SYL), which is a common observance, but I think they portray it well as a hybrid of influence.

This is a good follow-up.

I'm pretty psyched for this cd! I really enjoyed Akeldema and after hearing some songs off of their myspace Planetary may just be better than Akeldema.

Since the release of this bands first album I always saw them as a band that has alot of potential and could either develop for better or for worse. Their previous material has some impressive moments but the overall product is inconsistent and amateur in song structure/direction.

.I listened to the new album once last night and was reasonably impressed in some aspects. The core element is still there but not as much as before and the song writing is better and more technical than before as well. That being said, it still probably wasnt anything too mind blowing or original for tech death but they did try some things and I think overall they've taken a step in the right direction. Not a bad album by any means, imo.

Has anyone who lives in Australia received their pre-order of Planetary Duality yet???

I have a feeling that they got the idea of for the album cover from the Scrin's Warp Portal in Command and Conquer 3.

I enjoyed Alkedama, especially An Autopsy. So is the album good?

The same thing happened with the new album that happened with Akeldama. When I first listened to Akeldama I thought it was trash, but my bandmates were so giddy about it, I had to give it another listen. After a few more times, I fell in love with it. Planetary Duality is the same deal. I knew this time around I'd have to give it a few tries before I really got into it, but now I realize how awesome of a record it is. All of the songs are really well thought-out and put together (whether you like the style is subjective), and once again, their breakdowns aren't your standard deathcore "I'm going to jack off on a downtuned powerchord" bullshit. The only true qualm I have with the album is the stupid voice clip they have at the beginning of "Planetary Duality I"...after 7 straight listens of the album, it gets a tad annoying.
I still need to pick up this album, and plan on doing it soon. I really wish I could have gotten out to the Planetary Duality tour, because The Faceless + Abigail Williams + Decrepit Birth = me creaming myself.

EDIT: Oh yeah, another downside of PD: There's no absolute stand-out track like "An Autopsy". I kill people when that song comes on.

Just thought you might like to know that this album debuted on the Billboard 200 this week at No.119, selling 5,600 copies. I had never even heard of these guys until I saw this news. This is a very impressive result for a band that sounds like this and I bet their label is stoked by this too.

If no one got any idea what I was talking about, I was talking about this

If a band like Beneath The Massacre can debut at 22 on the Billboard... anything is possible..

Except it didn't. They debuted at No.22 on Billboard's Top New Artist Albums chart, not the Billboard 200 like The Faceless managed. They also sold 4,000 less copies than The Faceless did.

This turned me off from it.

I was minding my own business at school listening to Spawn of Possession, when some deathcore advocate talks to me and asks me what I'm listening to, I reply with the band name and he then asks what genre they are. I say "Technical death metal I suppose" and he then retorts with an almost school girl-like fanaticism, "DUDE DO YOU LISTEN TO THE FACELESS? THEY'RE SO TECHNICAL! OH MAN THEIR NEW STUFF IS SO WEIRD AND CUTTING EDGE, IT HAS LIKE ROBOT VOCALS AND SHIT!"

I doubt he had heard of Cynic before.

Other than that bias I will have when listening to the album, I'll most likely give it a try. I've been known to enjoy some deathcore, mainly Animosity.

Yup. An improvement over the first album, definitely, but still not worth my time. Check out the new Deeds of Flesh instead, people!

Im not a big fan of tech. death, but I actually enjoyed PD. I was thrown off by the robot vocals at first and the core elements dont bother me that much. Ill leave the final opinion to the tech. death fans.

I imagine you would enjoy this album. In many parts it is reminiscent of Spawn of Possession's Noctambulant. There is clear influence there.

As technical as this album is, it will never be seen as "Technical Death Metal" by some. It's hard to get over that "core" bias, but I think these guys are the closest to achieving it.

Planetary Duality finally arrived yesterday and it is insane!