Fragmentary Evidence

We're going to keep this review relatively short, because I've already talked about Augury before in my review of their latest album, "Illusive Golden Age" released in 2018. This is solely about their 2009 sophomore album, "Fragmentary Evidence." Let's jump into it.

Prior to the 2010s, the technical death metal scene had begun to flourish with a new wave of bands taking the progressive death-isms to the next extreme. Bands like Decrepit Birth, Obscura, The Faceless and Augury branched out into new territories to expand the genre even further. Augury already had their debut album released a few years prior to this, so it was time to see what the band could offer to the genre in helping it evolve to its next logical level.

In comparison with their newest record, I'd say Augury was much heavier, intense and sporadic on their sophomore album. Songs like "Skyless," "Simian Cattle," "Aetheral," and "Faith Puppeteers" are amazingly complex, to the point where even seasoned fans of the genre will have a hard time grasping what's going on. Their bizarre mix of sounds could best be described as "Quo Vadis and Gorguts teaming up to play death metal versions of King Crimson's most complex songs." Each track is vicious in its attacks, loaded with impressive guitar, bass and drum work and Patrick's schizophrenic vocals.

Dominic's fretless bass playing is the best of his career, and some of Augury's best tracks are presented on this album. I would say "Illusive Golden Age" is a little more consistent in its approach and results, as "Fragmentary Evidence" stumbles towards the back end; "Brimstone Landscapes" is a good song, significantly hampered by atrocious female vocals near the end of the song and "Oversee the Rebirth" overstays its welcome far too long and is nowhere near as good as the other long track "Jupiter to Ignite."

Overall, I'd say this is an about equal release to their newest album. While the highlights are better than those on IGA, the lows balance it out, as I feel IGA had more consistency with the quality of the songs. This is still a great album and Augury still stands as one of the best bands the genre has ever seen. The progressiveness is up a notch on this album, as it is far more bizarre and complex than the album that succeeds it. Both great albums in their own right.

FFO: StarGazer, Quo Vadis, Cynic
Favorite song: Skyless
Final score: 8/10

Now as most of you would already know, these guys are part of the underdog gang when it comes to technical/progressive death metal. Enough songwriting chops, brutality and riffs to stand head to head with the giants of the genre, but for whatever reason, have never really got the recognition that they deserve, even though both albums were stellar and standout releases even by themselves. Again, the fact that both releases were five years apart clearly did not help matters either. For those of you still wondering, the Cynic and Atheist influence comes mainly from the bass which is constantly weaving a path of its own punching through the jagged maze of pounding guitars and vocals. But I think it’s safe to say that’s precisely where the comparison ends.

However with the exception of that comparison, I don’t think anyone can really compare them to any of the old tech death bands. Sound wise, they aren’t that far from the subtle blend of tech death and prog death metal of bands like Beyond Creation, Neuraxis (basically the Canadian tech-death scene) and the like. Adding to that, I have to say that they sound closer to a blend of Theory In Practice (the subtle use of melody and razor-sharp technicality) and Opeth (the songwriting and prog elements) with a dash of Anata (the schizophrenic guitar progressions) thrown in the mix for good measure. “Brimstone Landscapes” kicks off with an almost alternative rock intro only to erupt into a maze of riffs with even some female vocals in the mix (yet you heard that right!). However, it is clear that the band has saved the best for last in the epic “Oversee The Rebirth”. Beginning with a gorgeous intro of guitar slides and tapping, the song maintains an ambient vibe for the first two minutes or so after which it kicks into brutal mode, alternating between heavy and clean breaks for the rest of its duration. Probably one of the best and most inventive progressive death metal songs I’ve heard in a while.

Even though the previous album was good, the operatic vocals sounded ill-fitting and uncertain every now and then. On this album, the band sounds more sure of themselves than they ever did. What I really like is that they do not feel the need to fill the songs with mindless sweeps to make up for lack of songwriting talent like a lot of tech death bands out there. Instead, they focus on soothing instrumentation and soaring leads with actual melody as much as possible. Oh and some really neat riffing as well. There’s no way one can afford to forget that.

Unlike a lot of other tech death bands, they also incorporate their fair share of stop/start riffing, plenty of harmonization in the riffs as well as the leads, not to mention some beautifully placed clean interludes. At the end of the day, I have to say that the beautiful ebb and flow of soft and heavy parts is what really sets Augury apart from the rest of the tech death competition. This really brings to mind a more brutal Opeth (without the clean vocals) or even a slight melodeath influence from time to time as well. To know what I’m talking about, listen to the blistering opener “Aethreal” as well as “Sovereigns Unknown” (incidentally, the only song with clean vocals as well as an amazing melodic outro) to get a clearer picture. On the whole, the vocals mainly alternate between cookie death metal growls and black metal shrieks for the most part. I have to stress that the latter vocal style really helps in creating an interesting contrast of vocals in each song, making for a much more enriched and varied listening experience on the whole.

Of course it goes without saying that the aforementioned factors really help them stand out from the rest of the tech death pack. Maybe it’s just me, I’ve been finding the tech death scene to be rather stale as of late. Too many bands out there seem to be taking influences from the post 2000s tech death guard of The Faceless, Necrophagist, Decrepit Birth etc. without really trying to form their own identity and create something outside the box. In this regard, there is little doubt of the fact that we certainly need more bands like Augury. “Simian Cattle” is bound to get your head banging in no time before the masterfully placed bass interlude swerves the song into a different direction and the brutal “Faith Puppeteers” has the best set of riffs on the entire album. While a lot of bands have good progressive ideas but end up meandering around with them, Augury is one of the few bands out there that cohesively fuses all of their ideas into 5-6 minute songs with the slightest of exceptions. “Orphans Of Living” cranks up the brutality factor all the way up to 10 only to settle into a soothing fusion groove around the 1 minute mark giving way to an intense barrage of melodic riffing building up piece by piece. Make no mistake - this is masterful songwriting at work here guys.

The final verdict? If you are a tech death/prog death metal fan, getting your hands on this album is an absolute no-brainer. However, I would encourage even fans of melodeath and progressive metal to be patient and give this album a few spins at first. Even though you may not personally be a big fan of tech death, there are some incredibly captivating and beautiful progressive metal moments that truly need to be heard to be believed. Songs like “Jupiter To Ignite” [with even some acoustic strumming in the middle of the song followed by an amazing guitar tapping section with the bass and the guitars playing off each other] and “Skyless” (with some incredible bass work) only drive that point home even further. Plus, they released a new album earlier this year which I am yet to listen to. Maybe that will finally be the album that will put this incredibly talented band on the map and get them the attention they deserve. Only time will tell. Till then, do yourself a favour and revel in the pure glory that is this album.

If there is any place one could go to in Canada for good metal, it would be Quebec. Sure, there are good bands to be found in every province of this vast nation, but Quebec seems to have the greatest tendency to churn out some of North America's greatest metal outfits, with a particular focus on death metal. Augury is a band that is coming out of a well-established scene for all things brutal and heavy, and their second album 'Fragmentary Evidence' takes heir epic take on technical death metal and brings it to a much wider audience. featuring cameos from a number of Quebec's most noteworthy metallers, 'Fragmentary Evidence' may not have the pleasing shock of 'Concealed', but their penchant for quality leaves on with this one, and with this, they plant themselves as one of North America's most promising young death metal acts.

Like 'Concealed', there is quite a bit of variety on 'Fragmentary Evidence', quite a bit more than what one may usually expect from a death metal record. The variety of riffs can leap from brutally technical death riffs, to more melodic licks, jazzy bits and a few proggy tapping sections. Not a most original innovation in progressive death metal to be sure, but Augury makes these aspects work with greater dynamic and excitement than most. On a personal note, I find myself typically amazed by the musical skills and abilities of tech death musicians, but find the music itself to be lacking. Augury is an exception to this rule, always throwing new things at the listener, right to the final track. The heavy sections here don't have the distinctiveness to keep from sounding the same, but they are far from monotonous, as the band is constantly changing up their pace, energy, and sound.

Included here are the vocal presences of singers from such bands as Cryptopsy and uneXpect, both bands that have also impressed me greatly in the past. Sadly- and especially in the case of the uneXpect vocal contribution- the appearance feels more like a gimmicky cameo than anything, jumping in for a few seconds, hinting at the sound of their origin bands, then disappearing for the rest of it. The main vocals here are a little more varied than your typical death metal dose, although they are not nearly as varied as they were on 'Concealed'. The vocals tend to lead the band into whatever specific style they are doing; there's even a song here where it sounds like vocalist Patrick Loisel is taking Augury on a pirate metal adventure through high seas. That being said, the real highlight here is what Augury can do with the lighter, mellow moments of the album; specifically the variety of different things they do with it.

'Concealed' will be a tough album for Augury to beat, but 'Fragmentary Evidence' certainly does not disappoint; we have here a very well-produced and exceptionally performed progressive death metal album, with plenty of little tricks up its sleeve to distinguish it from the legions of other bands.

Like, seriously, fuck it, this album is getting 100 percent, I don't care what anyone thinks or says about that. It took me seriously not even one listen through to realize this is one of the most innovative and progressive death metal albums released since Gorgut's Obscura or Atheist's Unquestionable Presence (Preferably I would say Elements was a lot more progressive and innovative, but everyone seems to favor Unquestionable Presence, so I'll just stick with that). It is shamefully to say that I have neglected to expand my musical knowledge base with this wonderful piece of art for a long time. In fact, I saw Augury nearly a year ago, with Obscura (why do people not like Obscura? Everyone claims they mindlessly wank, but I personally believe it's done very tastefully and melodically, albeit incredibly technical), and I was incredibly impressed by Augury's performance. Anyways, about a week or two ago, I decided to download Concealed and Fragmentary Evidence. I gave Concealed a listen, and I thought it was good, like I really like it, but then I listened to Fragmentary Evidence. HOLY SHIT! This album blew my fucking mind. Instead of conforming to the tasteless spotlight hogging, guitar sweeping, and mechanical monotonous blast beating display of prodigal, yet soulless talent that we sadly now know as "technical death metal" (cough cough, Beneath the Massacre, Viraemia, Braindrill), Augury makes an attempt at not shoving everything down your throat. If I may proceed.

Patrick Loisel is one versatile mother fucker, and he isn't afraid to let it be known. So far I've heard him use deep ass growls, gravely, yet clean vocals, shrieks, yells, black metalesque vocals, and hell, even operatics. But you know what? It works. Really well. Yet it still maintains a brutality, while producing a beautiful display of technicality and progression. Actually, who needs versatility when you can do monotonous growls for every song? Ok, Demilich can pull it off, but for every other band that does it...bad. I'm just saying that he is a straight champ.

Mathieu Marcotte, I'm going to assume he plays the leads? Although I feel play is not a fair enough word. It's almost like he's painting a musical painting, the greatest painting to ever be painted, meticulously minding each and every crucial detail, to ensure that a perfect picture is painted. Never have I heard such revolutionary guitar work and leads since maybe... hmm, could we say The Sound of Perserverance? Yeah, let's give Death some love. I love the fact that he's aware that he's playing technical/progressive death metal, but at the same time doesn't feel the urge to climax via a guitar. I mean, honestly, we get it, every damn tech Death band these days can sweep more than a Mexican maid, but i mean, what else do they do? Oh wait, tremolo pick too, sorry! Not Mathieu, he switches it up. From what I've listened to, he creatively mixes up clean, Cynic-esque jazzy riffs with brutal, attention grabbing sweeps and tremolo pickings (these are actually incredibly tasteful and melodic) I love the fact that he's not afraid to do some low-end lead work, and make it sound rather nice. If he ever decides to join the masturbatory route of guitar playing, I will be pissed.

Steve DiGorgio, he is... oh wait, it's not Steve DiGorgio. Sorry, I meant Dominic Lapointe. May I just say, however, that he might as well be Steve DiGorgio. I must say, I would rank this guy up there with (I promise this is the last time I'll say the name) Steve DiGorgio, Tony Choy, Jeroen Paul Thesseling, Roger Patterson, Derek Boyer, Steve Cloutier, Eric Langois, you know, just everyone that's really good. He is fucking INSANE. He man handles that bass like a priest at a Kid's Sleepaway Camp. He has the innate ability of being present damn near the whole time, yet not stealing away from the glory that is the whole band. Combined with gorgeous taps and slaps (rhyme unintentional), he is now one of my favorite bass players. He proves that bass in death metal is never meant to be pushed aside, following the guitar like a dog follows its owner. A bass is its own instrument, and should be treated as such. Keep that shit up bro.

Étienne Gallo, well... I mean, he's no Flo Mounier, but fuck it, the rest of the band is amazing, so as far as I'm concerned, so is he. But no, seriously, he is really good. I love the sound of his blast beats, usually having an attention grabbing accent on the cymbals at the right time (I'm not very musically informed with the whole technics of it, but i believe he basically does triplet blast beats in which he accents the cymbal every start of the triplet...it sounds pretty sick). Anyways... hmm, he is really good, as I said. He does know when to chill out fortunately, unlike a lot of bands (cough origin and vital remains). My only grievance, although a fairly insignificant one, is that he would maybe make his blast beats a bit less of a defining trait. He is playing in an incredibly progressive band, and I personally think he could play without a single blast beat and still sound metal as fuck, since blast beats are for some reason a staple in metal (whatever happened to the good old skank beat as the staple?). But seriously, it's hard to even bitch, he plays them very well, regardless. I also notice a jazz influence, which is totally awesome.

Ok, so I haven't shut the fuck up for a while, right? And you would think I would now give a breakdown of each individual song, correct? Ehh, wrong. I just took the time to hopefully spark your interest enough into simply buying, and if not, downloading this album (as well as concealed), and giving it a respectable, appreciated listen. If I have to describe each song, I feel that's a complete waste, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case, the ear of the beholder. If you are a close minded prick about metal, and can't handle progression, don't even bother, it's your loss. But if you have an extreme respect for tasteful technicality and progression, listen to this wonderful album. If you like Cynic, Atheist, post-human Death, Pestilence, Obscura, Gorguts, Martyr, blah...fuck I don't even need to explain it, we all know what bands I'm talking about.

Just listen to the damn album and enjoy.

Ok, and maybe just one personal aside...
Jupiter to Ignite.
That song is incredible.

Augury is one of Canada's finest death metal exports, with a progressive leaning far more adventurous than countrymen Cryptosy or Neuraxis. Fragmentary Evidence is a beast of a sophomore slab, with a technicality that will instantly impress, but more importantly: a depth of creativity which can please the appetite well beyond a few listens. The material is varied and engaging, the musical proficiency so precisely tuned that it fades right into the album's immense tapestry of sound. The songs can become so mesmerizing that you forget just how talented each of the musicians is at his respective instrument.

"Aetheral" is a stormblasting death metal shell surrounding the delicate and catlike grace of Dominic Lapointe's bass playing. Some of the aggressive riffing (i.e. the 2:50 mark in the song) will leave you scratching your head, though all is flowing and functional destruction. "Simian Cattle" opens with more of the playful bass, buried in a barrage of shifting chords and exotic rhythms. Again, there is a dazzling complexity overshadowed by the sonic imagery being produced. "Orphans of Living" storms forth like an outtake from a Theory in Practice album, only more accessible and rounded. The acoustic bridges in this song are excellent, Patrick Loisel's vocals a blunt meatwagon of disgust offset by rapacious snarls. "Jupiter to Ignite" is an 8+ minute epic of wandering, cyclical progressive licks which serves to showcase the full range of this band's talents. Though they differ in their overall sound, there are moments certain to impress fans of the recent Cynic material, a subtle and psychedelic fusion. In truth, the latter half of Fragmentary Evidence is even more impressive, with highly memorable hooks in "Skyless" and "Faith Puppets". The lyrics are interesting, elegaic and poetic, a rarity in a technical death release:

'We will ascend to the heights, setting other bodies in the sky
In hope to there sow our life from created to creators
In the image of God, makers of worlds, an infinity of Babel Towers to defy Him
Free of morals and gravity, wandering higher, living lavishly the life of a god'

The album sounds quite ominous and crystalline, leads winding through the carefully plotted, percussive riffing. The vocals are loud and center without ever offsetting the endless onslaught of riffs, and the breaks into bass or acoustics never seem forced or misplaced. There may be one or two tracks that drag slightly behind the remainder of the album in terms of catchiness or complexity. Regardless, Fragmentary Evidence is pretty damn tight. If you're a fan of bands like Cynic, Atheist, Lykathea Aflame, or Neuraxis, don't hesitate to track it down. You won't be sorry.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Holy vomit, where the hell did this come from? Could it be that the 21st century isn't entirely bland and uninspiring, concerning death metal at least? When you read about progressive death metal the first thing that comes to mind is always DEATH. If you have any metal culture, of course. But DEATH is dead, as the name suggests, and with DEATH dead, progressive death metal lost one of it's greatest masters. So why the whole history, mentor thing? Because there is still room for fresh air in the 21st century. For the "new" death metal always seems to end in "progressive" and "technical" wanking or "br00tal" deathcore. And that is incredibly lame, but also sad, on the other hand.

AUGURY, a Canadian progressive death metal act (and they've surely earned that description), are a big mean machine raining hell upon and pissing on everything that is uninspired, boring and bland. As a modern 21st century band, they stand before a great task. How to produce and create something new, something with substance, something out of the ordinary lame cheese that so many bands, that are thick on the ground excrete, without having any at all feeling or creativity? The answer lies in exploring new ground, with a little reason and striving. Celestial themes, now that's something. That is majestic and epic, that is something new. AUGURY manage to produce this quite well. In creating an album that is both impressive and imposing, they have managed to immortalize themselves within my collection indefinitely.

The music presented on this fine silver platter is amazing. Every single note appears to belong to the great whole, to the consistency of this album. Its production is crystal clear, but not in a one-million-layer oversteering sort of way, but in a subtle, at times gentle, at other times ruthless manner. Additionally, they do not mimic any other band, since they have their own sound, their own song progression and simply their own charisma and aura. The soli are finally a breath of fresh air in the scene and this time, not guessable, with amazing rhythmic progression and harmony, naturally executed with good musicianship.

Overall, the album is a curious, playful peak at the stars, a journey into the unknown, a metaphysical attempt to capture many different abstract feelings. I sure wish more bands would be as interesting as AUGURY, but then again, there is enough good music material out there to listen to anyway. Nevertheless, this is what the modern death metal scene should of have evolved into, instead, alas most of metal has degenerated into regression of what once stood tall and majestic. Let's enjoy the fact that there still are artists out there who know how to preserve the true spirit of the energy and expressive force that is metal and, of course, which means to much more than just the simple music we receive through our ears.

Highly recommended for any person willing to explore and widen their horizons.

Ever patient and disciplined, Augury has emerged from the swarm of technicality, progressiveness, and brutality that is the Quebec scene and solidified themselves an international record deal with Nuclear Blast. This is not all that surprising, as 2004’s Concealed was a gem, boasting an eclectic mix of influences that immediately cemented the band as serious contenders.

Fragmentary Evidence is a further example of Augury’s dedication, as the band employs none of the current scene gimmicks or staples to sell their art. They have simply pushed their abilities further and dug deeper to create more complex music. This may not appeal to everyone though, because although the core of their sound remains a mix of death metal, black metal, and progressive music, Fragmentary Evidence leans more heavily towards the progressive side.

There are more acoustic passages and a much stronger Opeth vibe to some of the hooks. Many of the riffs are extremely complex and require the listener to pay close attention in order to differentiate them and understand where the songs are going. Although this may scare away fans that are seeking a more direct and brutal delivery, others who listen to a diverse spectrum of music will find much to discover here.

Patience really seems to be the key with Fragmentary Evidence.