UMUR
"Echoes of Decimation" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, Kansas based death metal act Origin. The album was released through Relapse Records in March 2005. It´s the successor to "Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas" from 2002 and features a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as guitarist Jeremy Turner has been replaced by Clint Appelhanz, and drummer John Longstreth has been replaced by James King.
Stylistically the lineup changes do not alter the band´s trademark technical brutal death metal sound. The listener is exposed to exactly what is expected if you´re already familiar with the band´s sound on the eponymously titled debut album from 2000 or the sound on "Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas 2002)". Cold, harsh, chaotic, often dissonant, and brutal death metal played with great technical skill, fronted by a brutal growling vocalist and a high pitched snarling one. 9 tracks and a total playing time of 26:28 minutes and the album is over almost before it began, but it´s actually a suitingly short playing time in this case. And it´s got nothing to do with the quality of the music, which is high throughout, but a matter of the music being ultra brutal and inaccessible, which would probably make a longer playing time a bit of a challenge to get through, even to the trained death metal ear. To my ears "Echoes of Decimation" is actually slightly more accessible and memorable than the case was with the first two albums, but overall the album is quite the challenging listening experience.
"Echoes of Decimation" features a well sounding production job, which further helps the album sound a bit more accessible than it probably is. So the album both features a good quality sound production and some well written material (which could have been even stronger with just one or two hooks to hold on to), but you can´t write a review about Origin without mentioning how technically well playing and quite frankly jaw-dropping brilliant they are on their instruments. In other words Origin are an incredibly well playing band and they show their full potential here with lightning fast riffs, fast technical drumming, and some fairly nice vocal work too (nothing too much out of the ordinary, but still solid within the genre). A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.