Where “Visitor from Titan” employed a production style that, while certainly not amazing, served the song with its grittiness, “Swarm” sounds like it was taken straight from a demo recording. Nearly every aspect of the song’s sound – production, riffing style, and vocals – is completely different from the previous tracks, and these changes are not for the better. In fact, when I first heard “Swarm,” I thought that my music player had somehow begun shuffling and that I was now listening to a completely different band. “Swarm” is the third track from Earth Base One, but you certainly wouldn’t have known that had you listened to it. Despite all its missteps, “Ghost War” still lands as one of the better tracks off of Earth Base One, a dark omen of what’s to come. Once again, the lead guitar shredding is fun and engaging, but it is now forced to compete with the other instruments in order to even be heard thanks to muddy production. For instance, riffs and song segments still transition between another in a disorienting manner, but that disorientation never pays off as it did in the album’s opener. The second track, “Ghost War,” follows suit, making use of many of the same stylistic choices off “Visitor from Titan.” Here, though, they begin to seem less like intentionally made songwriting choices and more like symptoms of a lack of ideas. By shrugging off the trend of perfectly compressed, clipped, and quantized lead work that is all too often employed in the genre, Tiwanaku’s lead guitar provides a real sense of grit that recalls death metal of the nineties more than it does anything released in the past fifteen years. The standout element of “Visitor from Titan” is undoubtedly the lead guitar work. Synthesized choir and strings provide a strong foundation and bring a sense of melody to the slightly monotonous vocals, and in typical death metal fashion, the drums blast away, never drawing much attention at all, be it good or bad. Riffs change up on a dime in a way that at first feels disorienting but becomes satisfying as the song repeats its strophic structure. Unfortunately, for every positive that Tiwanaku incorporates into this album, countless negatives slip in as well.Įarth Base One begins in stride with “Visitor from Titan,” a six minute song that demonstrates everything that Tiwanaku is able to do well. Recommended for fans of: Psycroptic, Slugdgeįeaturing mythical artwork, a dizzying space opera concept, and a symphonic infused progressive death metal sound, Earth Base One, the debut release from the Florida-based Tiwanaku, is an album that – at least on paper – I should love. Style: Prog Metal, Symphonic Death Metal (mixed vocals)
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