Fractal Generator – Apotheosynthesis (Self-Released)

Sunday, 4th October 2015
Rating: 7.5/10

Always enjoy when bands include album title definitions in their bio. Learning new words is fun! Apotheosynthesis means “to distill something to the essence of perfection,” which, potentially, could be a self-congratulatory title, or, something with deeper meaning. Fractal Generator (who are from Canada and use numerals instead of their actual birth names) also included a quote from noted American astronomer Carl Sagan, so get your space time continuum hats ready. (At least the band didn’t go the route of Nightwish and dedicate an entire song to Mr. Sagan. Big ‘ole misfire there.)

To the matter at hand. Fractal Generator play a brutish, highly technical brand of death metal. It’s right in line with the dexterity-o-rama action of Deeds of Flesh, Decrepit Birth, and Malignancy, which should give you a pretty good idea of what the band’s confines are. Still, there’s some adventurous playing to be found across the album’s nine songs, particularly “Abandon Earth,” a number that starts with some cool pull-off action, then delves into chunky, highly mobile Suffocation territory. In fact, subtract the space element/theme from Fractal Generator’s sound, and they’re not a bad Suffocation composite. (Then again, most bands of this ilk are. Just the result of Suffocation being the first out of the gate with this style of death metal.)

Lack of individuality aside, the album never totally drops into tedium, as evidenced by “The Singularity,” which does in fact, drop in some astro-like bits. Should Fractal Generator want to take the next step, they’re advised to really exploit this whole “chaos theory” thing, let it really flourish in light of their supreme musical ability. Death metal needs a good wrench and curveball every now and then. Who’s to say a bunch of science geeks from Canada aren’t the ones to do it?

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