Review : First Fragment - Dasein by Sputnik Music

Via Sputnik Music : "Time isn’t always on a band’s side. Whenever there is an extended waiting period between releases, excitement dies down and is replaced by doubts and fears of disappointment. True, in the past, groups such as Atheist and Gorguts have made forceful returns after especially long breaks. But, as the past has also shown, the opposite can be true--consider the cases of Modest Mouse and Cynic. With a near six-year wait between albums, Canadian techdeath outfit First Fragment seemed fated to either topple expectations or crumble under them.

However, to say they completely succeeded in overcoming the obstacle of time is an understatement. With their highly-anticipated debut Dasein, First Fragment obliterate any and all negative preconceptions, showcasing some of the most inspiring instrumental performances in a technical death metal album. The band stays true to their sound established on The Afterthought Ecstasy while simultaneously improving on it and experimenting. The end result is one of the strongest albums of the decade.

The band opts for a thrash-metal style of technical death metal where each and every song is a fast-paced battering on the listener. Guitarists Philippe Tougas and Gabriel Brault-Pilon play off each other with remarkable synergy, forming amazing, melodic riffs for each and every track. The opening guitar burst for first track “Le Serment De Tsion” should be enough of an indicator for what you’re in store for--frantic, pounding drums, a very technical and greatly improved bass, and extraordinary interplay between the two guitarists. Songs such as “Gula” are perfect examples of the band’s intense, energetic playing and the great interaction between the members, featuring an engaging guitar riff with a funky, jazz-like bass playing underneath as the drums roll on at an impressive speed. Vocalist David Brault-Pilon is no slouch either, adding more power to the album by supplying his commanding mid-range screams.

Daseinhas many more progressive tendencies compared to its predecessor. The song lengths have increased--the closing track, “Evhron”, is longer than 8 minutes--giving more room for instrumental breaks where the band really experiments, jumping in and out of harmonious solos and shredding away with ease. “Voracite” spends time with a haunting sample before crashing into an instrumental onslaught, launching an aggressive beating fronted by a strong rhythm section commandeered by bassist Vincent Savary and drummer Troy Fullerton. “Prelude En Sol Diese Mineur” is an entirely instrumental song with nothing but acoustic guitars and the bass playing together and harmonizing. Overall, however, the band’s strongest point remains their ability to create rapid songs with outstanding grooves and melodies, hardly ever relenting to let you catch your breath; they do this with such professionalism that it’s hard to believe this is only the second album they’ve ever created.

What’s most impressive about Dasein, all things considered, is just how fresh it sounds. Despite being mainly written prior to 2015, Dasein outclasses many modern techdeath albums with an absolutely stellar production. Each band member shines individually, displaying astonishing talent with their craft and greatly outclassing contemporaries. The very clean, polished sound emerging from the record is the icing on the cake, exposing all of the working components of the band.

It’s very difficult to make such a fast, in-your-face album and keep it consistent and intriguing per every song. This proves to be no trouble for First Fragment ; Dasein absolutely earns a place amongst the best modern techdeath releases and deserves all the credit it gets. The tracks flow seamlessly with gorgeous melodies dominating the record. The band has unleashed an undeniably monstrous album that grabs you right from the start and never lets go--a true, full-on sonic assault led by some of the best musicians in the modern scene." 5/5

Originally written by Mitchell D.W. for Sputnikmusic.com

News : First Fragment New Album "Dasein" out now and streaming via Metal Injection

Via MetalInjection.com :

"It's already been a pretty damn impressive year for tech-death so far, and now it gets even fucking better with today's one week early stream of Dasein by Quebec natives First Fragment. The album officially comes out this Friday, May 20th, but since so many of you have surely heard the songs that have been publicly released so far, what follows below should confirm everything you thought so far. Dasein is indeed one of the most impressive and extreme tech-death debut albums I've heard in some time. And what makes that all the more impressive is that the band has stated that the majority of the music on here was mostly written over 6 years ago, yet it still sounds fresher than most of their current peers.

If you can imagine what it would sound like if Gorod, Spawn Of Possession, and Necrophagist joined forces with Jason Becker, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Origin shred influences on top of that, you'd arrive at the frequently eye-popping sonic territory that First Fragment occupy. To me, this is that rare modern classic that people will be talking about for awhile. So jam this madness below and try to disagree with me that this isn't a damn impressive death metal record! It's records like Dasein that raise the bar for tech-death as a whole, since we all know this outclasses the vast majority of their peers.

If you like what you hear below, Unique Leader has a ton of cool combo album bundles available here. Or you can pre-order a digital copy at the Unique Leader Bandcamp page here. Be sure to follow First Fragment on their Facebook page too! "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAM9IorEIPU

Interview : Sick and Destroy Webzine vs First Fragment

Via Sick and Destroy Webzine : "Technical death metal, mixed with neoclassical metal tunes, sounds enough interesting? Yeah, welcome, Canadian band First Fragment! Tell me about First Fragment. Why did you decide to name the band with such title? What kind of ideas do you explore? And what has been brought you into technical death metal?"

Hi there. The name “First Fragment” was originally a working title that we decided to keep. We weren’t looking for a name to go along with a specific theme and it was catchy sounding so we kept it. Our love for neoclassical metal and extreme, relentless death metal is what brought us to play the music we play now.

“Dasein” album was released three month ago. How does that make you feel? Do you feel you have put album into masses without any wishes to change something now? Tell me more about “Dasein”? Album ideas etc… Also, are there some songs which you have decided to exclude from the album?

It feels truly great to have finally released something that has been in the works for 3 years. However, I’m just talking about the recording process here. The song themselves are between 6 to 12 years old. It was about time we got this album out so we could move on to do other things. I wouldn’t change anything on Dasein though. There are almost 200 different songs we could’ve included on Dasein. We felt those 11 were some of the best we had. Although there are many differences and contrasts between these songs, I think they all flow well together and I can’t imagine how the album would be like had we replaced one of the tracks for another one.

Any European tours planned this year?

Nope, but we do want to play some European dates in 2017 at the very least.

Your main themes are: Metaphorical Themes, Abstract/Expressionistic Poetry, Ongoing Conceptual Saga… Can you tell me more on this topic?

Dasein is a conceptual album that follows the original concept/story that was established with the EP’s lyrics. The way David writes his lyrics is very unique though. He only writes rhymes, and they are written in a very enigmatic yet poetic way. Only him alone knows the true meaning behind the lyrics and every sentence is a piece of a very mysterious puzzle. He is currently writing a book about the conceptual story he has created for our lyrics.

Do you feel you have achieved something new in music now in difference from “The Afterthought Ecstasy”?

The songs on Dasein are simply better arranged, better composed, more intense and better played. There’s no question about it. Although the production on TAE was very satisfactory, the overall feel and playing on the EP was too mechanical (and with a drum machine, it doesn’t help). On Dasein, the performances are tight but organic and the production is much less sterile. I can understand Dasein being a little harder to digest than a 27 minute EP on first listen because of it’s length, but I simply disagree with the few that have said the EP was superior.

In your opinion, what is the best way to define First Fragment’s sound?

If I had to describe our sound with one sentence, it would probably be something like “Yngwie Malmsteen with blastbeats and growls”. We play a very extreme form of metal that belongs in both the “technical death metal” and “neoclassical metal” subcategories.

So, are you on hiatus now, just relaxed and looking for album feedbacks, or did you started to compose new stuff immediately?

Definitely not on hiatus. We are always working on new material. We have 200+ songs written. The tough part is selecting the songs that will end up on our next recording. We have to keep writing new material too because we don’t want to have yet another album only made of old songs like on Dasein. It can take us a long time to write newer, fresh songs so we’re certainly in no rush.

What are your main musical influences? How huge is their influence in your sound?

80’s power/neoclassical/prog metal: APOCRYPHA, HELSTAR, JOEY TAFOLLA, TOXIK, CACOPHONY, RACER X, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, WATCHTOWER Technical Death Metal: SPAWN OF POSSESSION, NECROPHAGIST, THEORY IN PRACTICE, MARTYR, CAPHARNAUM, ATHEIST The compositions of JS BACH, N. PAGANINI, A. VIVALDI, J. HAYDN and the masterful works of PACO DE LUCIA greatly influenced our music as well. Obviously, there are dozens, if not hundreds of other artists that influenced us in many ways so I’ll just name these for now.

Is there some well-known musician in particular that you would like to use in one of your upcoming albums?

Oh for sure, but I can’t tell you who. Regardless, you’ll know about this soon enough. Keep an eye on our social media sites during the upcoming months. If you meant guest musicians, then I would say I’d really to have Josh Christian of TOXIK do a guest solo on our next album. He is the most underrated metal guitarist ever.

What is your personal strategy for making your music heard by a larger audience?

We have no specific strategy set-up yet, but we are working on finding one. Things are progressing slowly but surely. With the help of our new manager François of SPC Enterprise, things will go smoothly. For now, we’re just writing music, booking tours, and preparing playthrough videos.

Do you have any other hobby beside music?

When I don’t play music with my bands or compose, I collect releases from old bands, listen to music all day, read a book or play video games. That is when I’m not working. I still enjoy nights out in the company of good friends once in a while, but I mostly enjoy solitary activities the most.

Are you all supported by your relatives towards your devotion to music?

Absolutely. Just to give you an example, my father sometimes work as our live sound engineer, has mixed our first two demos and has recorded vocals on all our releases ever. I come from a family of musicians. My mother has been extremely supportive as well. The other members of First Fragment are also closely followed by their relatives in their musical endeavors. We are very lucky to be surrounded by people who care for what we do best.

How’s the metal scene in Quebec right now? Is it easy to play gigs, to buy records etc there these days? As far as I know – there was always decent scene in Quebec!

It’s okay. Too much emphasis on black metal and technical death metal nowadays (yes, I know it is ironic for me to say this), but at least Quebec is good at those I guess. We have a scene for every subgenre, but it’s not well balanced. Doom metal ? Almost nonexistent. Heavy/speed metal? Idem. Deathcore? There’s at least 50 deathcore bands per square mile or so it seems. Otherwise, it’s easy to get gigs in the Montreal area with the presence of multiple booking agencies. We have a few metal shops scattered around, but only an handful in the whole province are worth visiting if you’re looking for truly obscure stuff or old school gems.

Thank you for answering my questions, see ya on the road!

Thanks for the interview. Hope to see you at one of our shows one day! Conducted by sickanddestroy.info