Evolving Transhumanism

Peter Lake, the founder and the mastermind behind Theory in Practice, put an end to his main occupation that kept him busy for nearly seven years, at the beginning of the new millennium in order to explore other horizons. First he tried his hands on some black metal with the short-lived project Mutant, to fairly positive results by the way, and just when one was wondering how the hell the man was wasting his time for over five years, he showed up in Germany in the company of none other than Ralph Hubert, the Mekong Delta leader. The resultant collaboration produced “The Lurking Fear”, a progressive thrash masterpiece, but Lake didn’t hang around Hubert for very long afterwards, and was soon on the road again.

Another sizeable gap followed in his resume before the emergence of this 2-tracker. Theory in Practice were back after a huge hiatus, an enormous sigh of relief from their fanbase, and this single was surely a mere testing of the soil before the new full-length… consequently, the most pressing question under the new circumstances was: what to expect from the potential full-length?

Well, based on these two songs the fan should have a peace of mind as Lake and Co., the Co part featuring his brother Peter Sjoberg (drums) and the complete newcomer Andreas Lyngmo (vocals), have done a fairly good job which doesn’t necessarily mean that they have reached back to the band’s very roots. They haven’t cause Lake hasn’t finished with his explorations of other genres yet, apparently trying to see how they would fit into his main act’s compositional skeleton. His stay with Mekong Delta must have sparkled some interest in the good old thrash which was hardly the biggest sensation on the field provided that several outfits (Psycroptic, Korum, Punish, etc.) from the technical death metal roster have been freely borrowing from it recently.

Without any further ado, we jump into this short 10-min shredfest part one of which is titled “The Amendment of Germplasm” with Lake in a surprising virtuoso mode from the very start, unleashing a cavalcade of blazing lead-driven pirouettes before the fast-paced sweeps take over creating numerous headbanging opportunities, Lake providing the obligatory more technical stops from the impetuous roller-coaster which largely contains speed/thrashy riff-patterns greatly backed up by superb lead sections. Lyngmo emits standard death metal shouts that can only be humble assistance to this smattering showdown which also includes “Pandemonium”, another vehicle for Lake’s prodigious talents the man even beating his past exploits with the initially stirred riff-vortex; frenetic surgical thrashing follows suit quite reminiscent of the one from the mentioned Mekong Delta opus, with spiral-like arrangements recalling the band’s earlier achievements also with the support of unobtrusive keyboard tunes, the ensuing grand opera also having its more laid-back side which appears in the form of a brief soothing balladic etude before a supreme hyper-active, very technical epitaph wraps it on with style to spare.

Very appropriately suggested innovations that could have only elevated the band’s highly-stylized repertoire, diversifying the death metal palette with bold strokes of thrash, but one could hardly complain as the music is nothing short of outstanding. If the guys were going to ride the new millennium as a more thrash-fixated outfit so be it; it was going to be a thrilling ride all the same obviously...

It was if Lake has finished with his exploration campaign, mind you; cause he apparently hasn’t which led to the “Crescendo Dezign” EP two years later. Just when the fanbase was expecting a new full-scale opus the guys shot 20-min of slightly complicated, but still pretty generic, derivative melo-death musings with a chuggy Meshuggah-esque vibe, a really disappointing turn of events considerably divested of the exuberant technical flair exhibited on the single here. And a scary proposition for sure as this shouldn’t be the face of one of the most revered technical/progressive metal acts on the planet. But again, the man’s experimental period is not over yet; there’s more to be heard, maybe even scarier variations will be proposed in the near future… so stick with the thrash, Peter, I suggest, and stop causing the audience so much anxiety. If you think of changing anything from the old days, that is…