Surrealith
Existential Animals
•
December 30, 2014

Think you can't have a good Death Metal band without vocals? Need some guttural utterances or bone-chilling screams to really enjoy your Death Metal? You might want to think again because Ohio-based instrumental Death Metal outfit EXISTENTIAL ANIMALS have unleashed a beautiful monster on the world with their latest release "Surrealith". Despite being instrumental and having actual melodies that the listener can follow, this album is not for the faint of heart. The overall vibe from it holds true to their description of themselves as "Organic, grass-fed Tech Death."
Were you expecting blast beats and perpetual 0's from extremely down-tuned seven-or-eight-string guitars? Maybe you should open your mind and let yourself be overtaken by the constant progressions and intricate and complex solos that can easily melt your brain if you try to grasp the outstanding construction used in each of the songs on "Surrealith".
Pressing the play button on the first track, "Accretion", I was immediately interested in what the subsequential tracks would sound like. The opening track isn't necessarily a complex masterpiece and only resonates a few notes but it allows the listener's curiosity to be tickled. There's no percussion present on it, so like many albums I've heard before, it gives off the distinct impression that there's a lot of heaviness ahead, and it would just so happen that my instincts were correct...
The final note of "Accretion" leads into the first note of "Vitreous Vale" and from there the fun begins. Leading off with a very bass-heavy riff and then a progressive riff I swear I've heard in a BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME tune, EXISTENTIAL ANIMALS immediately begin demonstrating their prowess on their respective instruments and their skill in songwriting, and so the mind-melting began. As it turns out, the five-minute track was just a warm-up for the band continued to impress with the next (and perhaps the most distinguished) track, "Oneironaut".
Keeping with the general rule of instrumental-only Metal, there are no vocals present (or needed) for this track to assert itself as what would probably make for the finale or encore of a live set for this band. I favor this seven-and-a-half-minute song on this album because it seems that the music was created from a blank slate and given such amazing thought and attention that it must have been designed by the band to be the flagship song. It is easily a masterpiece and the longest song on the album.
Following "Oneironaut" is the fourth track "The Zanclean Deluge". This song blends a brand of heavy bar chord riffs and eclectic and clever solos. Near the three-minute mark, the urge to have a few "0's" in the mix is satisfied and gives the remaining thirty seconds of the song a nice djenty aspect but also keeps its ties with the very technical aspect of the music. It serves as an excellent prelude for the final track of the album "Stalked Vestige". As the only song with any kind of vocals present on "Surrealith", it stands out as the most brutal, courtesy of Will Smith, vocalist of ARTIFICIAL BRAIN with a close (and sexy) resemblance to the vocals from a little band called NECROPHAGIST. "Stalked Vestige" puts a serious stamp on this album and lets the listener know just how Death Metal "Surrealith" is despite being the only track with vocals.
When I listened to this album, I was taken for a ride into a land of wonder and darkness. I have to give "Surrealith" a lot of credit for being very innovative without sacrificing the heaviness one would expect with a band of Tech-Death affiliation. As the sonic presentation is clear throughout the album with no iffy parts during recording and production, I was pleased and though it is only a five-song release, I would still consider this album a great (albeit small) addition to anyone's Tech-Death collection. Hopefully we will see this band come up with a bigger album in the future with this same blistering brand of wonderfully heavy music!
8 / 10
Excellent

"Surrealith" Track-listing:
1. Accretion
2. Vitreous Vale
3. Oneironaut
4. The Zanclean Deluge
5. Stalked Vestige
Existential Animals Lineup:
Mark M-R
Alex Tasker
Charlie Kimball
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