I have come across the name GNOSTIC several times recently and I was really curious to see what it stands for. After some (many I could say) listening sessions I can say that GNOSTIC stands for some of the best names in the technical extreme music. Still nothing? Well, let's take a look...

GNOSTIC is the musical journey of Sonny Carson and Stephen Morley, who is not a part of the band anymore. They teamed up with ATHEIST's drummer Steve Flynn, guitarist Chris Baker (also in ATHEIST) and acquired Kevin Freeman as a vocalist. The result of this cooperation was a contract with the French Season Of Mist and the release of the band's debut album Engineering The Rule.

What GNOSTIC are trying to do is mix all their classic technical Death Metal influences (ATHEIST, CYNIC, DEATH, PESTILENCE) with a more modern attitude, something that is mostly supported by Freeman's modern vocal approach. This kind of intelligent music is brought back to the forefront after the comeback of bands like ATHEIST, CYNIC, PESTILENCE etc. Is it becoming some kind of a trend? Nah, I don't want to believe something like this...

The crystal clear sound with the razor sharp guitars create a riffing whirlwind, that unfortunately ends up being a not so positive thing for GNOSTIC. The album is really full, giving no time to the listener to take a breath or have some space to absorb the input he receives. Engineering The Rule has an attacking mentality from the beginning to the end and it will make you get tired at some point. All in all it is a more than decent album, but I guess that GNOSTIC should spend less time on being technical and more time working on their song structures.