Hailing out of Stockholm, Sweden EIGENSTATE ZERO is a one-man Death Metal project created by Christian Ludvigsson. Creating an entire album by writing all the tracks by oneself is a particularly difficult thing to do. A person that takes on a project of this magnitude must be extremely dedicated to the music as well as proficient in a variety of musical aspects. EIGENSTATE ZERO now has its own debut album "Sensory Deception" that was released on November 1st of 2019. Christian Ludvigsson adds a variety of interesting elements into the album, creating a Progressive Death Metal album. Not only does he add electronic elements, he also provides some melodic elements that are layered upon the instrumentals and vocals that fall in line with the Death Metal subgenre.

Upon the first listen of "Sensory Deception" I was a little taken aback by the experimental elements that were incorporated into the album. "1984.2" begins with a weird electronic synth riff that melds into the heavy hitting instrumentals that are commonly found throughout the Death Metal genre. The vocal work on this track is strong and has that dark, doomy, anger feel to them. "The Nihilist" opens up with aggressive instrumentals and eviscerating vocals that run throughout the entirety of the track. This song offers a variety of different sounds that are rarely, if ever, used in Death Metal. This track is a good representation of adding newer elements with Death Metal. There is also some synth work done on this track that gives the song another worldly vibe.

"Godeater" powers on with insane guitar riffs before breaking down into symphonic elements that are paired with almost sludgy, heavy instrumentals. There are odd time changes throughout this track and you never know what to expect out of this song or any others on the album. "Eigenstates" provides another interesting addition to "Sensory Deception". In this song Christian adds a synth melody that almost has the feel of an angelic voice. He also adds clips of low toned speaking to give the song a darker vibe. There is a synth riff later on in the track that hits every note that makes your ears feel uneasy. "Decoherence" returns us to more of a traditional Death Metal. The guitar work is heavy, brutal and accentuated by powerful, gritty vocals. Christian explores a lot with his instrumentals in this track but they are well crafted and brings us back to some sense of normal compared to the other songs on this album.

"Wrath" gives us a sense of how far Christian's vocal range reaches. The pitches of his vocals change through long runs but they fit very well within this track. The instrumental work on this track is impressive as he gets just downright nasty and heavy with them. There are audio samples used of people laughing in the track and really give the song an eerie, disturbing sound. "Zentropic" really takes you to a dark place. The vocals are eviscerating and almost demonic at points. The instrumentals in this track also use some discordant riffs to make you feel uneasy. Then the track gets much odder when the synth elements are added into the song.

EIGENSTATE ZERO'S debut album "Sensory Deception" is by far one of the weirdest things I have ever heard. The idea of mixing synth and electronic elements into Death Metal is foreign to me but doesn't make it any less interesting. Experimenting with new ideas is how we push the boundaries of the music that we listen to. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Then there are times where experimentation falls into both of those categories. I would put "Sensory Deception" into that last category. There are times that it does sound really good by adding the electronic elements with the heavy instrumentals. Then there are times where it does miss the mark and feel out of place.

I do respect what Christian Ludvigsson has built with EIGENSTATE ZERO because we do need musicians that are willing to broaden the horizons of music within the Metal community. Not to mention that building a project like this requires an insane amount of dedication, time, and effort. So, I do hope that he keeps on exploring and experimenting so that we may find new ideas to reinvigorate the music when it is needed.