Whenever I hear that a band is Technical Death Metal, I'm expecting things to get crazy. It could be melodic, it could be brutal, it could be proggy, but there's always something that sets it apart. With the new CHAOS MOTION album, that something is how goddamn weird it is (which I don't necessarily mean negatively). The first song (cleverly titled "Intro") is a hodgepodge of jazzy sounding lines and odd stop-start melodies, with some ambient feedback going on throughout. That aesthetic carries over to their full songs as well. "The Sound of Specter" is a mass of shifting drum patterns and dissonance, with ringing harmonics that sound like they're from space. Around two minutes in, the constancy of the drumming goes away and it becomes a free, atmospheric journey. Then it briefly becomes more regular before dissipating into distorted fog again. There are very few vocals going on, which helps to keep the listener focused on what is going on musically. You need your focus, because there are no parameters with this band.

"Perturbation of the Spin" starts with some proggy, space-sounding arpeggios, and then the drums hit like a ton of bricks, all separately thrown at random intervals. The weird rhythms here are definitely unique. Guitar-wise, the parts (I hesitate to say 'riffs', as almost none of it really repeats for too long) are spastic and alien, almost like a more laid back RINGS OF SATURN (laid back in that there is more use of space). Which is not to say it isn't pleasant to listen to; even though it's unconventional, riffs like the last one of the song do stick in your head.

The cleaner intro is used again on "Unscrupulousness Resolution", a title that is as inscrutable as it is unnecessary. But that's Tech Death! Some cool bouncy licks come after, and as with the rest of the album, there's no one way to sum up the song, since so many different things happen in it-bass fills, blast beats, melodies that sound like bebop played by a fax machine-but it kind of makes sense the less you try understanding it. But then there are rare tracks like "Vital Vision Void", where even though all of the elements of both Technical Death Metal and this band's take on Technical Death Metal are there, it's on the structured side of things. That greater sense of togetherness is probably due somewhat to more repetition of riffs and slightly fewer stop-starts and oddly timed parts.

The next two songs sound like exactly what they're called; "Inner Chaos" is basically just feedback and space noises. I'm not sure why it's there, honestly, since it's three minutes long and barely has anything past sounds in it. And "Psychotic Spasm" also sounds like its title, although the whole album falls pretty neatly under that description. It's more of a song than "Inner Chaos", but apart from a really cool lick at just past the three-minute mark, mostly the same as usual.

The album closes on another instrumental-although vocals have played a basically meaningless role in this band's music, which is all about keeping listeners guessing and giving them the feel of being hurtled through space ass-first. Ending with an instrumental is bold, but not something I would put past them. The problem is that it's so staccato and the guitar tone that mechanical-sounding distortion, so it's like a computer slowly being destroyed by malware. Diminished and other evil-sounding arpeggios abound. The last minute of it is pretty much a bass playing over feedback.

I do love Tech Death; under certain conditions (GOROD, OBSCURA, NECROPHAGIST), and I like aspects of what CHAOS MOTION does, but especially as a debut, I would say they have growth to do in the future. A little more structure and emphasis on writing riffs that stick with people would go a long way, and also, a less artificial guitar tone.