Hailing from Perth, Australia, and formed in 2011, Technical Death Metal/Metalcore band XENOBIOTIC takes its moniker from combining two Greek words, "ξένος" which means stranger and "βιοτικος" which means someone or something that has to do with life. The promo came to me without a press sheet (shame on you, Unique Leader Records), so I had to turn to The Metal Archives once again to get bio information and the band's line-up. This their latest EP, and contains five songs.

"Autophagia" is the first. It's heavy and aggressive out of the gate, with both screaming and guttural vocals. The drummer is insane-hitting about a thousand beats a minute, while the music is dark and dissonant. "The Wretched Strive" begins with a slower groove but is no less intense. Musically, I would say this lies somewhere between Tech Death and Death Metal, not so much Metalcore, but that is neither here nor there. "Nether" is a short, under-three-minute song that calms from the rage of the previous two tracks. It opens with acoustic guitar that leads to a lumbering grind of powerful and punishing tones.

"Pathos" has a huge ample sound, with varied vocals. Some Progressive elements come into play with the way the band shifts the meter on a dime. No one is doubting their abilities as musicians. "Sever the Ties" closes the album. Surprise, it's another dissonant offering done at light speed with rolling and thunderous drumming, and harsh vocals. The biggest problem with this style of music is that the genre boundaries are so narrow, bands have to work twice as hard to distance themselves. Musicianship is one factor, but it's won't carry the album.

I get that this is heavy and intense music, but all melody is nearly gone. The technical elements are impressive, and the band clearly know how to play their instruments. Beyond that however, the music stripped down is pretty basic, and in line with everything else out there. The production is well done, even though their label didn't include a press sheet in the promo. I'm sure their fans will like this album, but it didn't do much for me. The old saying, "yeah it's brutal bro," will only go so far.