Review : First Fragment - Dasein by Pasif Agresif webzine

Via Pasif Agresif Webzine (translated) : Today, among the few very good technical death metal albums released this year, we are talking about an album that shines like an archaic organism in an extraterrestrial forest identity.

FIRST FRAGMENT (another band of ZEALOTRY), another group of Philippe Tougas, the main man of CHTHE'ILIST, which is among the new kings of the world with “ Le dernier crépuscule ”, one of the undisputed best albums of this year . very nice, I'll write it soon); a group that greets us from Canada and makes the technical death metal name so much right.

Although FIRST FRAGMENT was established for 9 years, they had to wait a long time to release their first album. The album was of course written during this time. Except for Prélude en sol dièse mineur and Archétype, all of the songs in “Dasein” are songs written between 2010-2014. Another feature that makes the album interesting is; “Dasein” is the first album from Canada to date, all with French lyrics, and FIRST FRAGMENT is the first band to deal with a US company (Unique Leader) in French. Does this affect the listening experience? No. The lyrics largely serve as a filling material on music. When there was such a superior guitar usage, words could not be expected to come forward.

Considering the album, "Dasein" brings together nineties and two thousand of technical death metal in a delightful harmony. The solo usage of “Dasein”, which is used in full doses of neo classical elements and where the Suiçmez / Münzner school is successfully continued, is among the most shining elements of “Dasein”. Speaking of Münzner, the German guitarist shows off his solo skills in the fifth song, Mordêtre et dénaissance, in a fluent way. Another guest guitarist is Mathieu Marcotte from AUGURY. He's getting it on Archétype.

What I like the most about FIRST FRAGMENT is that the group offers pure technical death metal without getting into modern currents, without interfering with deathcore or other types of experiments. In the album, which was cast by all the musicians, the drummer Troy Fullerton, whom we know from SEVERED SAVIOR, offers an animal-like performance. Another shining star of “Dasein”, which is written by Tougas, who is the CHTHE'ILIST person responsible for the solos and half of the songs, is Vincent Savary, with a bass writing that is felt in every song that is heard from very enjoyable hands. Like 24-year-old Tougas, he performed a very mature performance for his age.

The main special part of the album is “going beyond pressing too many notes”, which is one of the biggest problems of technical death metal bands and albums. FIRST FRAGMENT definitely manages to create an atmosphere in this sense. The songs have their own characters and highlights. With the band Le Serment de Tsion and Dasein, we witness that the acoustic and bass guitar in the Prélude en sol dièse mineur offers delicious jazz and Latin influences, while Prélude en sol dièse mineur is stunned.

There is a feeling in the album that supports the verbal theme that I don't understand because of French. This situation is clearly felt among the songs where the blood pressure increases and decreases. But above all, what makes “Dasein” good is rif and song writing, of course. The group skillfully combines many things, highly creative riffs, countless tempo changes, the use of guitars that get there and get there, all of which make "Dasein" an extremely memorable technical death metal album.

If you like the genre, listen very clearly. There will be many things you will like without hesitation. You will say “what's going on” with the entrance of L'Entité and you will be curious about the rest as the water of your mouth flows with the animalism of the first two pieces. One of the best of the year awaits you for listeners who have set their hearts on technical death and haven't listened to "Dasein" yet. 8.5 / 10

Originally written by Ahmet Saraçoğlu for http://www.pasifagresif.com/

Review : First Fragment - Dasein by Metal Archives

Via Metal Archives : “Dasein is the long-awaited debut of Quebecois technical death metal outfit First Fragment. This album is a storm of dual guitar antics, frantic, lightning fast drumming, and intense bass guitar work that is played with more feeling than Boston could ever hope to understand. The songs never feel too long or too short as each runs their course and flows from one to the next seamlessly. Arising from this is an overwhelming compulsion for repeated listens of the entire album in a single sitting. In fact, “Dasein” does not feel like a mere collection of songs from a band. It is a cohesive release of music that is consistent in its delivery of quality entertainment. Attempting to separate the album into its constituent components would be like trying to break down a baked cake into its individual ingredients.

From “Le Serment de Tsion’s” dizzying hammer on and pull off tapping riff to the final reverberating blasts and distorted spoken words of “Evhron,” First Fragment never once show anything less than masterful competence at music composition and playing technique. The album is chock full of memorable passages and moments. One of many available examples is the dueling solo work on the second half of “Mordetre et denaissance” between guest Christian Muenzner and Phil Tougas. They trade off multiple solos, before coalescing their playing into one final solo and ending on resonating notes as the main riff and rising and falling drumming takes back the direction of the music. Aiding the memorability of these parts are the sprinklings of piano, keyboard, classical guitar, quiet sections, and sound samples that accentuate the music. The third track, “L’entite,” is a great example of this in that the song starts off as a soothing Nuevo flamenco recording before ascending to instrumental technical metal.

The instrumentation on this album is masterclass quality and every note and every beat is struck with genuine meaning and meticulous care. The guitar work features elements common to tech death riffing like string skipping and tapping while also adding a hefty dose of shred, all with a neoclassical twist. For those of you wary of neoclassical elements in metal, you may rest easy because the guitar playing never devolves into useless wankery or mindless shred. The playing is clean and tight and the tone is compressed and bright with glorious tremolo picking and godly legato abound. The drumming is both relentless in its pace and nuanced in its presentation. Handily changing up patterns to match the tone of the music, the drummer has no problem moving from complex blasting to thrash beats, delivering tasty fills the entire time. The punchy quality of the drum EQ helps to simultaneously cut through the mix and also prevent the domination of the higher bass frequencies. This, in turn, allows the exquisite bass guitar work to shine through. The bass has a smooth and throaty tone that is clean and airy on higher notes, and gritty on lower notes. With relative ease, it adds a feeling of roller coaster romance to the music at times and meaningful poignancy at others, easily noticed on “Gula” and “Prelude en sol diese mineur,” respectively. The vocals sometimes sound like a raspy bark and the vocalist trades off between high-mid range screeches and lower grunts throughout each song. The lyrics are delivered with careful attention to cadence and pitch and do not interfere with the instrumentation. The vocalists’ expert level craftsmanship is further demonstrated by well placed, held yells or screeches like on “Le Sermont De Tsion” and “Psychan," smoothing, and often accentuating, transitions between sections, and abruptly changing measures.

This is one hell of a debut LP from a band that experienced a modicum of recognition six years ago after the release of their EP, “The Afterthought Ecstasy.” This has seemingly come from left field and easily deserves to be a contender for the album of the year. Well done, First Fragment. Your world class musicianship and penchant for placing quality over sheer, blunt-force brutality have raised you above the throngs of countless technical death metal bands. This outing has propelled you instantly to your new dwelling amongst the stars with the likes of Spawn of Possession, Necrophagist, and Obscura. In some measures, you have even surpassed your elders and, in more areas, your contemporaries. " 99/100 Originally written by Jakster840 for Metal-Archives.com

Review : First Fragment - Dasein by The Angry Metal Guy

Via The Angry Metal Guy : "I’d like to begin this review by discussing the gigantic fucking roll that French-Canadian guitarist Philippe Tougas is currently on. Starting with last year’s release from Serocs, he has played on three downright kickass albums, all favorably reviewed on this very website. His work with Zealotry gained my notoriously stingy tech/prog-death approval, and his bizarre Timeghoul and Demilich-inspired project Chthe’ilist is almost certainly going to make the Kronos year-end list. And as if all of that wasn’t enough, his longest-running band, the neoclassically-inspired tech-death outfit First Fragment, is finally dropping their first full-length album, exactly six months after this firestorm began with And When the Sky Was Opened. Unfuckingbelievable.

Longtime readers will be quick with comparisons here, so let’s get this out of the way; despite his immense recent output, Tougas is in no way the Vardan of prog-death, and like all of his recent outings, Dasein has a good chance of absolutely flooring you. Everything that made the group’s acclaimed 2010 EP The Afterthought Ecstasy great has been retained. Beginning with “Le Serement De Tsion” and relenting nearly an hour later in a Chthe’ilist-like explosion at the climax of “Evhron,” this album has more dynamism, intrigue, and above all, notes than anything you’re likely to hear until maybe the next Archspire LP. It’s the sort of album that I always wished Fleshgod Apocalypse would make1, full of Malmsteenian neoclassical wankery that’s tightly controlled by propulsive songs.

The title track “Dasein” is proof enough of the album’s potential, gliding into existence on a slick but dreamy almost klezmer-esque melody before the full band sets all knobs to ‘kill’ and really start shredding. The non-stop sixteenth note riffing manages to be so spectacularly pyrotechnic that the song’s screaming guitar solo is the least technical passage by far, and it’s followed by a fantastic bass solo section that shows that the band can really pull back and let one member shine. “L’Entité” follows with a flamenco introduction that’s obvious Kronos-bait, and completely works as such. First Fragment‘s ability to gracefully flow between not just riffs but rhythmic languages is best seen in this full-length instrumental song, but you’ll hear more great examples scattered throughout the album, like the swing stomp sections in “Le Serment De Tsion” and “Gula.”

Though Dasein is quite long, there isn’t a bum song on it, and even late in the album the band tucks surprises in among their mind-boggling riffery. Just when you think they’re running out of new ideas – as in the beginning of “Voracité (Apothéose, partie 1),” when a slasher film sample introduces a muddy instrumental passage – some solo or riff comes around to blow you out of the water completely. “Voracité” introduces a lead halfway through that, while somewhat buried in the mix, makes for a great backing track for sequential bass and guitar solos.

Though it’s the guitar work that really propels this album, the whole band is in on the gymnastics, and the drumming from Severed Savior‘s Troy Fullerton is prevented from stealing the show only because of how incessantly spectacular the string players’ performances are. But perhaps most charming is the work from otherwise unknown vocalist David Alexandre Brault-Pilon, whose all-French delivery matches the intensity and personality of the instrumental performances; his little spit-take at the end of “Le Serment De Tsion” is a truly charming moment and a mark of this album’s levity. But there’s even more to this album than performance, as its production is spot-on. the instruments are clean but far from computerized, and there’s enough space for the considerable dynamics in some of these songs to really shine through. Despite its near hour length, Dasein is barely fatiguing at all.

Dasein‘s incessant shredding and neoclassical flair set it apart form a North American tech-death scene that’s often too preoccupied with aliens2 and clean production3 to write inventive, progressive albums and seat the band rather comfortably next to European acts like Spawn of Posession and Gorod. And between Christian Muenzner popping in regularly for solos and the group effortlessly swinging between jazz and neoclassical influences, this might be the most fun and impressive tech metal out there, and a far cry from the po-faced posturing of the band’s peers. Dasein is vibrant and colorful, but still brutal and incredibly fast, managing both to impress and beguile even the hardest-to-please tech death pedants [Vardan‘s been quiet for a while. Somebody should check on him. – Steel Druhm]." 4/5 Originally written by Kronos for AngryMetalGuy.com