Negative Life

New Jersey's Replicant (nice Phillip K. Dick/Blade runner reference) are a hard band to pigeonhole. I've seen them called tech death, and while the dudes definitely have chops and then some, it doesn't quite fit. Negative Life is too ugly, too diverse and too in love with slower stomping riffs to fall under the perfection-seeking umbrella of tech death. Replicant are very much a warts-and-all type band; they're downright ugly and have no interest in showboating or displaying technicality for the sake of technicality. If anything, Replicant are oddly atmospheric in a murky and dystopic sort of way. Negative Life pulls from a lot of death metal niches and beyond, and Replicant prove to be miles ahead of the reams of indistinguishable modern OSDM bands that currently litter the death metal soundscape.

I haven't really been keeping up with the death metal scene in recent years so I can't say if this still holds true, but back around 2016/2017 the whole incorporating heavy doses of off-kilter Demilich weirdness thing (also with a Timeghoul influence playing second fiddle) seemed to be the hot new trend in death metal. Replicant surely do display a strong affinity for angular Demilich-styled riffs, but Negative Life is miles above something like the Nucleus debut where the formula was just Demilich + standard OSDM worship. No, Replicant pull from all over the place and end up with a sound that only sounds like their own. Besides Demilich and more obvious influences like Incantation, Replicant have tech death in their sound (Gorguts especially comes to mind), lots of murk-shrouded death/doom and even stuff completely removed from the death metal playbook.

So Replicant can riff. That much should be obvious by now. You can riff all day and if you're good enough you'll have a good death metal album, but I think there's a bit more to creating a truly memorable one. Songwriting isn't always something that comes up in death metal. There's lots of bands that just hit you with a barrage of pummeling riffs, and a fair bit that do it well. You can make a completely enjoyable death metal album that way. However, Replicant make a great one with their keen attention to detail when it comes to songwriting. There's almost a narrative arc to these songs - Replicant are great at making the songs feel like a journey through a scum-infested dystopian underworld, rather than just a cool collection of riffs. They also have a lot of atmosphere; another thing that doesn't always come up in death metal. The wonky, dancing echo-drenched guitars before the heavy section comes raging back in "ADRA2B" sounds like old Daughters and do a lot to bolster the dystopic vibes. Interlude "The Frail" sounds downright seasick and otherworldly. There's a lot more where that came from, and it really gives the album that something extra that takes it to the next level.

Negative Life is an immense debut effort from these New Jersey boys. Replicant lives up to their name's origin, bringing in both unsettling dystopic atmosphere and the moments of bludgeoning violence you'd expect from a dystopian sci-fi opus. Replicant have the chops of a tech-death group, but sound dirty, primordial and off-kilter. I wouldn't through a prefix on their genre at all - they're a death metal band through and through. They draw from a lot and end up with their own unique sound. If were this good on their debut album, their sophomore could end up being a stone cold modern classic by any stretch of the imagination