News : Funebrarum enters studio for 3rd LP & announces Mexican Tour

Funebrarum has begun recording their 3rd album at Toadhouse Recording Studios in Portland, Oregon. The album will be released in 2020 through Pulverised Records. On top of the 8 songs already chosen for the full length album, 2 other tracks have been recorded for a 7" vinyl EP. Shortly after the recording sessions, the band is set to embark of its first ever Mexican tour, with their first stop being the "Total Death Over Mexico" Festival where the performance will be filmed. Other bands on the festival bill include cult Swedish Death Metal kings INTERMENT as well as German riff scientists VENENUM and US death metal legends DRAWN & QUARTERED.

News : Equipoise Debut LP "Demiurgus" out now, makes it to US Billboard charts at #25

Equipoise's wild and bewildering debut album "Demiurgus" is now out on CD/2LP and on all streaming platforms via The Artisan Era. The album has even reached the US billboard charts at number #25. More from Metal Injection :

"When the group first put out Birthing Homunculi in 2016, the line-up was already impressive as the band's guitarists Nick Padovani and Zack Hohn got a lot of killer talent on board for the release including Inferi and Ashen Horde vocalist Stevie Boiser, Beyond Creation’s phenomenal fretless bassist Hugo Doyon-Karout, and piano/keyboard genius Jimmy Pitts of Eternity’s End, Pitt’s Minneman Project, and NYN fame. For Demiurgus, the line-up has gotten even wilder with the addition of First Fragment,Chthe'ilist, and more shredder Phil Tougas plus Wormhole/Perihelion guitarist Sanjay Kumar. Rounding out the new musicians in the fold is ex-Hate Eternal and ex-The Faceless standout drummer Chason Westmoreland giving a spectacular performance that ties everything together.

The end result of such a union could have been all excess without focus, instead, it’s excess and focused, perfectly utilizing all their talents while retaining a melodic focused proggy tech-death framework that anchors this in a more “easily” digestible format overall.While I’m normally not a big fan of re-recording prior material for inclusion on new material, including new re-worked and expanded versions of Birthing Homunculi here was a great idea too.

For people just hearing it for the first time, the songs carried over from Birthing Homuncul in an expanded updated form between track three and track seven, are a nice touch since they’re somewhat different than the other seven new songs written after that period that make up the rest of the album. For people familiar with that material already, I think most fans will be on board with the move since adding real drums and expanding them really makes those songs from 2016 sound their best yet here.  If we titled this as an It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia episode as an homage, it would have to be “The Gang Sells Shred Crack, Again”. There will be some who understand how that ties in, if not, maybe some schemes are best left in the trash. Some would argue in an It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia-manner, replete with vague hungry growling Danny Devito nods to the trash man, that this could have wound up a literal dumpster fire in line with its self-deprecating meme-ification manner of growing through social media like a virus. Instead, Equipoise has continued diversifying their sound in many different ways on Demiurgus,exceeding even my own expectations for what this album might have wound up having to offer. Demiurgus is the first standout tech-death record of 2019 to my ears, this is an intriguing mix of over-the-top, catchy, and forward-thinking all at once.  As usual, you be the judge, so click play below and give Demiurgus a shot. If you’re digging the music, pre-orders can be placed in a variety of bundle formats and through their Bandcamp page. You can follow the band over on the Equipoise Facebook Page."

Review : Equipoise - Demiurgus by Toiletovhell

Via Toiletovhell : "Equipoise: my favorite tech death band, dolphin/horse hybrid, and equine steroid. If you’re not familiar with the band, the short version is that it’s made up of a bunch of dudes who are ridiculously good at music and like playing fast. Their debut EP was already pretty impressive, and Demiurgus represents three years of expansion and refinement of that material. Strap yourselves in, because this album is a doozy.

Intro track “Illborn Augury” sets the stage with a melancholy piano arpeggio, breaking into a series of flashy (yet tasteful) solos and breaking intro track convention by not being entirely pointless. It’s “Sovereign Sacrifices” that gives you your first taste of what the album truly has to offer, though, exploding in a flurry of warring instruments with incredible intensity. The guitars are engaged in a near-constant duel with each other, held together by a powerful upfront bass attack and an array of synths that ranges from backing strings to twinkling piano. If Serocs has a melodic counterpart, this is surely it; the only other band that I can think of that really sounds like this is First Fragment (which is fitting- all three bands share a member).

The absurd pace set by “Sovereign Sacrifices” is the standard for the album, but it’s not a constant. Spanish guitar interludes pop up a couple times and always at the perfect time; it keeps things from becoming completely overwhelming, and they’re really well integrated into the overall sound, particularly at the end of “Cast Into Exile.” A couple short interludes perform a similar function, and like they intro, they actually serve a purpose here. There are a couple swung parts that immediately call Gorod to mind, and “Squall of Souls” has a groovy, spacey prog feel driven by 9th chords and sliding melodies. One doesn’t typically expect a hyper-shred album to have a ton of variety, but it’s one of Demiurgus’ greatest strengths. Unfortunately, that does make the homogeneity of some of the riffs in the album’s front half stand out that much more, but that’s more than made up for by the time it’s over.

My god, though, the performances are astounding; if you want to hear people doing cool shit with their instruments, this is the album for you. The band’s three guitarists each have a very distinct style of playing and lead tone, keeping the solos fresh and unique. The keys further drive home my belief that more tech death bands need actual keyboardists, as they provide a ton of texture and yet more counterpoint that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Far from simply blasting from start to finish, the drums have some sweet riffs themselves; I find myself paying less attention to drum lines these days, but this kept me thoroughly engaged. The real star of the show here is the bassist, and given how prominent he is in the mix, the band seems to be aware of this as well. Hugo Doyon-Karout’s performance on this album is entirely unrestrained, often taking the role of driving instrument over the guitars; it makes his work on the last Beyond Creation album look almost comically tame in comparison.

From a purely rational perspective, Demiurgus is an excellent album for those already tech-inclined. This probably won’t be converting any nonbelievers to the genre, and I suspect casual listeners might have a hard time keeping up with the breakneck speed. But if melodic tech death and extreme virtuosity sound like a good time to you, then you’ll be hard pressed to find something out there better than this. The album releases tomorrow, March 8th, on The Artisan Era (available on Bandcamp as well). Be sure to show Equipoise some sweet Toilet love on Facebook as well." 5/5

Originally written by Spear for Toiletovhell