Harbinger

Deformatory is definitely known in the underground as a heavily underrated band. Perhaps this has been part of their appeal for the last decade or so. They are just a little too extreme to be captured by the younger audiences and they seem to deliberately ensure they stay that way. They have the chops & wherewithal to tap into the prettiness of the trends, yet they seem content in zooming by in their own lane. This is something that I personally respect on one hand, but on the other, secretly wish they get the attention I think they deserve. Perhaps that will change following the release of Harbinger, which was released independently on September 13, 2022.

Diving deep into their discography again prior to this review, I am reminded of their attention to the minutia of everything they do (music, artistic direction, lyrical concepts, etc.) They simply don't hold back on any element they want to cram into their releases. This is especially the case with Harbinger. For this release, they chose to not release any singles ahead of the drop date and instead, released the entire E.P. as one giant music video (that's right; all 16 minutes of it in glorious visual accompaniment). Just like when they dropped their label to do things their own way, Deformatory continues to carve their own path in the muck with how they released 'Harbinger'. When I became aware of this via a press release, I immediately took note. It was different than the standard formula for releasing records today. I anticipated this album and for a change, paid attention to the band's social media account in hopes of getting some tasters of the album to come. Release date hits and I scramble to finally get a hold of this experience. Did it deliver? Was it all they tried to hype it up to be? You bet your sweet tender ass it did! These 4 tracks hit you with in all directions and drag you along the blade-covered tracks to strip away any flesh your body is gripping onto. Just when you think it's over, they reel you in some more, exposing your spine and testing to see if it has what it takes to withstand the next sonic onslaught.

Riff master Leduc masterfully takes the listener on a wild, chaotic and technical journey; giving glimpses of his musical genius in the small doses he chooses to inject. His guitar work, compositions and execution on Harbinger easily solidify him to be seated at the top with other elite extreme songwriters such as Palubicki, Lemay, Levasseur & Milley. My only complaint in the strings department is the lack of audible bass lines throughout each song. On their previous album, 'Inversion of the Unseen Horizon', the bass had a very special place in all songs, dredging up the nostalgic feel we have grown accustomed to from 'None So Vile'. Alas, on Harbinger, we do not get this treatment. The bass is present and you feel it, but it does not have its own voice. This is something that I was hoping to hear and was disappointed when listening to the album. Having said that, I don't think the album would have been impressively dark and foreboding had the bass been more present in the mix. I'm sure this was a deliberate production choice to accentuate the evil lurking in the shadows of this EP.

Grandy's percussive assault is near impeccable on this record. Compared to previous albums, it is fair to say this is his best execution behind the kit to date, which says a lot. Grandy is a formidable death metal drummer and has his own distinct flavour/characteristics, as you can most definitely hear on the fills found in the track Sunrot. More impressively is the clarity of his kit on this massive-sounding album. Hats off to the producer, Topon Das (who should take note of this mix for his own Fuck The Facts albums...) for delivering an exquisite sonic experience on Harbinger. It is important to note that this album should be listened to with quality headphones or speakers. If you opt out and choose to listen to this album with your phone speakers, or even worse, Air Pods, you are going to deprive yourself of the musical nuances that this band is known for and showcase terrifically on this EP.

Harbinger is a glorious evolution of a band and individual band members who are criminally underrated in the extreme music scene. It is pulverizing, captivating, haunting and intelligent. Though only 15-minutes of music is what they give us for this release, it is denser in extremity than on anything you will hear this year (save of course, Malefic Throne's EP, released earlier in 2022). Deformatory's Harbinger is a masterclass in true death metal aggression. If this EP is a warning of things to come, I, for one, will be anxiously awaiting their next release.