siLLy puPPy
ALLAGAEON (pronouned uh-LEE-juhn) formed in 2008 in the Fort Collins, Colorado area of the USA by vocalist Ezra Haynes, lead guitarist Greg Burgess, rhythm guitarist Ryan Gilsan, bassist Corey Archuleta and drummer Jordon Belfast of which only Burgess remains in the modern day era (2019 when i write this.) The band started out playing local gigs around at bars and in house gigs but soon caught the attention of Metal Blade Records who signed them after hearing how much they kicked ass on this debut self-titled and self-released EP of four tracks.
Having one foot in the past and another in the brave new world of the 21st century ALLAGAEON found a niche on the melodic side of the technical death metal camp. Churning out aggressive guitar riffs at a million miles per second, ALLAGAEON seems to have taken a cue from Marty Friedman era Megadeth especially on some of the melodic thrash metal techniques on “Rust In Peace” and applied them to a more suitable death metal context complete with blastbeat technical drumming wizardry laced with jazzy drumming skills in the mix.
Ezra Haynes’ vocals exhibit the typical death metal growls but the musical drive somehow melds the aforementioned Megadeth thrash with bombastic groove metal chops in for good measure however the galloping riffs and melodic soaring neoclassical soloing clearly reminds me of tracks like “Holy Wars” from Megadeth’s 1990 magnum opus. The technical displays come in not only the virtuosic instrumental interplay with amazingly precise bass grooves, guitar riffs / solos and percussive perfection but also in some of the compositional skills. While the melodic bantering can remind a lot of band like Amon Amarth with the double-bass drum patterns and extra catchy hooks, the compositions are dragged out a bit and whenever the saccharine detector registers too high, the band seem to steer it all into a more bombastic counterpunch.
This is a full fury album with four tracks that fire on all pistons for the EP’s 20 minute run. With a slight pension towards the progressive side of extreme metal, the amazing part of ALLAGAEON is how well they deliver the melodies without sounding like it. While melodic constructs are the clear focus, the intense fury delivered by the technicality and heaviness steals the show as the lyrics delve into the expected tech death subject matter of alien life and other sci-fi themes. While more famous for later works such as 2016’s critically acclaimed “Proponent For Sentience,” this debut EP is a stunningly excellent starter filled with one impressive series of musical chops after another and a testament to how well balanced a tech death metal can sound. Definitely not one to be missed.