Fans of groups like GIGAN will feel right at home with French trio THE SCALAR PROCESS's debut album "Coagulative Matter" (albeit, THE SCALAR PROCESS has a far more clean approach to their music). For the most part it's a rolling descent into metaphysical madness through carefully constructed song writing, it heavily leans towards the slumbering body of technical death metal but injects enough diversity into its veins to allow for a unique sonic signature. Surprisingly this goes beyond the airy dissonance, sparse blackened vocal bits, and breathy progressive sections. Oftentimes you can find yourself ear-to a traditional sounding synth or even a soundscape completely composed of ambient noise which slowly descends into a bitchrushed oblivion. Even solo work, which you'd often expect to be speedy and technical on an album like this can oftentimes be a slow and thoughtful experience.

There is a clear love for the music being made here, and the smaller group seems to add to that feeling. Even without the many guest stars on this album (Scott Carstairs of FALLUJAH contributing a solo on Ink Shadow, Mark Garett sharing a vocal bit on Mirror Cognition, and many more), I find it utterly impressive that a trio can drum up such a large and complex sound at times. "Coagulative Matter" seems to do almost everything right, at least on a songwriting and technical level. Some tracks seem to suffer a disparity in the vocal balance at times, and I'm really unsure if this is due to some tracks being wrote and recorded at times where the band or producer was learning or if, at some point, there was an idea to keep the vocals dialed back just a little in order to keep the albums ethereal vibe. This problem leaves the album about a quarter of the way through, with tracks like "Celestial Existence" and "Mirror Cognition" being handled wonderfully (those blackened lyrics at the end of the latter are amazing). It isn't detrimental to the record at all, but  I would have been satisfied with a couple belts here and there despite their abundance later on.

On a closing note, my only gripe is that whilst Eloi Nicod takes credit for these compositions, which is fantastic and he seems to be a very talented man - he sadly did not opt for a more visually impressive Kiesel. Of all the varieties they offer!