Alchemik Clockwork of Disorder

The French death metal scene expanded so vastly in the new millennium that the names of the veterans Agressor, Misanthrope and Loudblast can hardly be heard anywhere, not even as references. The newcomers have completely overshadowed the old guard’s exploits, their growth in both terms of quantity and quality rivalling the Italian and German fields every bit of the way. Outcast, Apoplexy, Gorod, Demented, Korum, Architect of Seth, Diluvian, Atrophy, Dungortheb, Dysmorphic, Red Dawn, Psychobolia, Gurkhas, Trepalium… These are some representatives of the great French death metal wave which continues to accumulate inertia until one day…

Trepalium can rightfully be considered as one of the Big Four of said wave, in the company of Korum, Gorod and Outcast. These four outfits are one of the most densely technical practitioners on the scene worldwide at present basing their repertoire on insane guitar pyrotechnics not far from Necrophagist by also managing to sound memorable and melodic in a way not too distant from Psycroptic, and I’m thinking here the almighty “The Sceptre of the Ancients”. So this French outfit, alongside Korum and Gorod, comes from the Necrophagist school of incessant guitar acrobatics leading the listener to oversaturation at some point; all in a good way, though, as the German legends haven’t had a very steady following over the years their quite complex exploits not very easy to emulate. Having written that, I also have to add that each of the three formations has moved away from that influence on subsequent albums trying to epitomize a more individual sound, Trepalium more so than anyone else.

The band started with two demos in the early-00’s when most of the acts from the group did. Korum were first to put themselves on the official release map, but Trepalium followed suit with the excellent “Through the Absurd” in 2004, a masterful display of virtuous technicality rivalling Necrophagist’s “Epitaph”, released the same year, every bit of the way. A strong statement of intent on all counts which saw the guys riding the wave, fully prepared to join the technical death metal cohorts on a full-time basis. The album reviewed here is their admission ticket to the pantheon of the finest practitioners of the more intricate side of the genre, a magnum opus that also placed them ahead of nearly everyone in their homeland at the time.

“Decease My Life” is the first “overdose” of supreme technicality the band shredding with the utmost precision with very frequent tempo-changes and great surreal slower breaks where the leads will make you cry; literally. The riff “salad” never becomes indigestible as the tracks are no longer than 4-min, but the dizzying labyrinths on “Modus Operandi” may still cause severe disorientation, especially with the absence of any fast-paced reliefs. Dazzling musicianship by all means which on “Decayed Emotions” becomes more hectic and chaotic this perennial shredfest also serving a few frantic jazz-like vortexes. The title-track enchants with slower progressive build-ups those intercepted by abrupt speedy surrealism which will also brings to mind luminaries like the Finns Nomicon and Pestilence. “Vesania” has the luxury to groove for a bit in the beginning, but this never becomes a dominant tendency although the song doesn’t rise above the playful mid-pace.

A pause for a quick breath of air for the listener with the next “One Breath of Peace”, a fascinating balladic instrumental of a deep meditative nature, after which “Perversion of Reality” will “pervert the reality” big time with its twisted overlapping rhythms which shift the pace at will stabilizing their stride in the second half when the riffs acquire a more officiant march-like character. “Ritual” notches up the officiancy with more mid-paced grandeur, but sudden aggressive “showers” are expected later on to disturb the nearly doom metal-like “rituals”. “Psycho Theme” richly deserves its title being 1.5-min of mazey riff-patterns which constantly move from one motif to another in a dishevelled, illogical fashion wrapped in covert keyboard undercurrents. “Pulsion” is a jarring steam-roller with surreal landscapes “crossing swords” with busy speedy rifforamas; a truly compelling symbiosis also enhanced with a few more melodic tunes. “Sick Boogie Murder” is rather a “stylish death boogie” the band relaxing with more conventional funky rhythms the harsh death metal vocals trying to actually sing nonsensically accompanied by sparse saxophone licks. The joke track here followed by the closing “Who’s Fucked Up”; no one is “fucked up” here, though, as the guys compensate for the silly title with more serious, heavier guitars including several brutal blast-beating passages which fade into a spacey progressive epitaph.

Although a few nuances already indicate at a potential shift into other territories on future efforts, this is pretty much another unparalleled shredfest for the pyrotechnics’ maniacs similar to the debut. It’s quite diverse as the time and tempo-changes follow in quick succession always keeping the listener on the alert for more tasteful surprises. It also has its less pretentious, playful side reflected in the aforementioned “boogie”, but there are also other interesting elements embedded that kind of hint at other possibilities within the Trepalium camp in stall for the fans which need a bit more time in order to acquire a fuller shape.

“XIII” brought those novelties in all their swagger three years later the band having accepted the groove and all that jazz much more willingly, sacrificing a lot of the earlier aggression in the process. It remains an entertaining slab of technical groovy death metal, though, the guys still unleashing the intricate riff-formulas albeit on a more subdued level. “H.N.P.” followed in 2012 the band sounding groovier and frolicer not necessarily belonging to the death metal community anymore, a further sign of that being the Pantera cover of “I’m Broken” at the end. The “Voodoo Moonshine” EP (2014) is a faithful follower of the preceding full-length providing another “tractate” on groovy melodic complexities. And here they are, Trepalium, sounding like an entirely new outfit…

From the “Sign of the Four” the band under scrutiny here have experienced the biggest metamorphosis so far although Outcast are a very close second with their more recent mechanical sterile nods to Meshuggah and their compatriots Gojira. Korum and Gorod have only made minor alterations to their hyper-active elaborate death metal approach, at least for the time being. Some of the Trepalium members have also shown interest in the black metal field with their side-project Diableriktus with whom they’re still on a demo stage. How much deeper they’re going to fall under the voodoo spells, that no one knows, not even the band themselves. Spacing out is definitely high on their list so the audience should brace themselves for more “alchemical” disorders in search of the musical Eldorado.