J-Man
Collapse is the second full-length album from the strangely-named Finnish extreme metal act Blastanus, and was released two years after their debut LP, Odd. With this album, Blastanus has decided to focus more on complex songwriting and lyricism than on their debut, and have also opted for a more technical death metal-influenced style than their grindcore-tinged previous outing. Collapse is a conceptual record of sorts, focusing on the current state of world affairs and the imminent collapse of our entire societal structure. This intriguing lyrical concept is portrayed through super-technical brutal death metal with wacky, avant-garde tendencies - not at all unlike experimental metal act Cephalic Carnage. Collapse can occasionally come across as a bit sterile, but this is a generally impressive technical death metal album that should appeal to fans of the genre.
Blastanus are a tough act to pin down on Collapse - although their sound unquestionably fits the "brutal technical death metal" tag, quite a few dissonant riffs, grindcore bursts, and jazz-phrased guitar work immediately set Blastanus apart from your average technical death metal act. The saxophone bits in the title track also give Collapse an additional sense of diversity and originality. Even though I'm often reminded of Lucid Interval-era Cephalic Carnage when listening to Collapse, Blastanus are far from a clone band, and they maintain a sense of originality throughout the album's entire duration. Collapse tends to be slightly less impressive from a songwriting standpoint. Although all of the songs are impressive on their own merits, there tends to be little variation stylistically between each of the tracks, leading to a slightly monotonous feeling towards the end of the release. The complete absence of melodies combined with the super-complex compositions can make Collapse a rather inaccessible listen, and even after multiple spins, a few of the tracks remain indistinguishable from one another. I'm sure that more memorable compositions will just be a matter of time for Blastanus - they succeed in nearly every other regard with this effort.
If you're a fan of technical death metal on the more experimental side, Collapse is a damn good recommendation and it's surely among the year's highlights. I'd like to see a bit more memorability within the compositions on Blastanus's next release, but this is generally a successful and impressive effort from this Finnish band. Blastanus aren't content with sounding like anybody else, and their willingness to experiment and try new things is ultimately what makes this observation such a blast to listen to. I'd say 3.5 stars are very well-deserved for this great album.