The Era of Destruction

The fondness for extremely haphazard technical death metal is alive and kicking with this quartet from Indonesia, and their debut album titled The Era of Destruction. Don’t be fooled into thinking this might be some Melechesh worship, since that aesthetic resides in the band name alone. What we have here is technical death not unlike Brain Drill, Origin, or maybe Rings of Saturn, and this, while extremely competent and technically dazzling, doesn’t quite live up to those standards, but only falls short by one guitar noodle.

The guitar sweeps do remind me of Origin in some cases. Riffing in general might be a bit lacking, but that is made up in spades by trickery and flair that surpasses the band’s age. They’ve definitely taken notes from the better bands out there and have tried to emulate their style. Every song has a myriad of sweeps and licks, so those not a fan of the style of technical death metal that favours noodles over riffs, don’t look here. Drumming is impeccable, too, with plenty of double kick and (gravity) blasting to be had. Maybe not quite as enduring as Longstreth, but this guy is no slouch. The gravity blasting in particular, while obviously triggered, deserves its praise in its integration.

Lyrics are your standard end of the world/destruction diatribes, and they’re well written and composed, however the delivery of them through Eric Mubarak leaves a little to be desired. While not bad in any sense, they are completely monotone and offer no variation in pitch or tone. It does fit in with the rest of the band, but I find that some diversification might have added some more novelty here. The vocals are still worthy, and in time, he may realise some variation in his voice.

The Era of Destruction has a whole lot going for it – exceptional musicians, a fondness for technical death metal, strong production, instruments working in harmony, guitars that sweep and noodle all over the place, drumming that can rival some of the big names in metal – yet I have a hard time remembering much from the album at all. The end of “The Slaughtering” sounds cool, but even then by album’s end, the exact nature of why I liked it is filtered away through the barrage of sounds I’m inflicted with. The short running time of 25 minutes is a plentiful dose of music for The Era of Destruction, and, while I’ll certainly be coming back to this album time and again, I do hope the follow-up will offer some more hooks for the listener to catch on to. A highly worthy, if unmemorable, debut from these promising Indonesians.