There are plenty of different styles of Progressive Death Metal, but the band that RELINQUISHED is most similar to is OPETH. These guys have varying tempos, clean passages and plenty of other aspects to the music to keep it all interesting, and all of this is seen on their newest album, "Addictivities (Pt. I)". If there is one thing this album could use more of, it would be interesting riffs because there is not one memorable one on here. I do, however, admire the complexity of the music, and that makes up for what it lacks. "Expectations" creates an enthralling experience for the listener with intriguing clean passages, a theme that is fortunately common throughout the album.

"Bundle of Nerves" was my personal favorite from the album, having a simple yet effective lyrical structure strengthened by winding instrumentation. The song delves into various tempos without hesitation, and it goes beyond the boundaries of simple music with ease. The band even creates a cerebral sound with songs like "Void of My Ashen Soul", the song that concludes the album with an enigmatic, clean section. One great advantage this album possesses is that it has no better half. Instead, each song has, to some extent, a similar level of madness as the others. "Zero" is an exception, as it stays fairly similar throughout the whole song (not making it any less effective, however). Each track has some level of tempo changes, interludes or clean segments.

Even the interlude, "Pulse", plays a part in the overall product, as its instrumentation makes a reappearance in the bridge of "Damaged for Good", a flawless inclusion of the exotic instrumental track. The inclusion of this instrumentation binds the fourth track to the album itself instead of making it a random two minutes of noise. A lot of Progressive Death Metal bands focus more on song structure and experimentation rather than creating a great riff, however, most of these bands still end up creating some very good riffs. As stated before, it would be great to hear some better riffs on these songs to make them pop a little more. Right now, the most memorable thing about this album is its complexity and clean passages, but it would be more effective to hear a groovy riff here and there. It would be one more thing to make me want to return to the album.

RELINQUISHED have created a very masterful piece of music with "Addictivities (Pt. I)". I truly look forward to seeing what they come up with for part two, and I hope to hear some good riffing. Nevertheless, this album is great even without the memorable riffs, but imagine how much more impactful it would be with them.