ALLEGAEON — Proponent for Sentience (review)

ALLEGAEON — Proponent for Sentience album cover

Album · 2016 · Technical Death Metal

4/5 · 2016-08-19
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Having made three albums, the most recent of which was Elements of the Infinite (2014), the US melodic technical death metal act Allegaeon parted ways with their vocalist Ezra Haynes. While it would be easy to say that a band that exclusively uses growled vocals can replace a vocalist easily I personally think that's a major misconception. For me the growled vocals can make or break a death metal act, so Haynes was always going to be a tough act to follow. Fortunately Allegaeon have found one Riley McShane (also of acts such as Continuum and Son of Aurelius) who not only brings decent growls with him, but also an ability to sing cleanly.

After Elements of the Infinite displayed a lower amount of melodic death metal influence compared to what went before, having a vocalist who can sing cleanly doesn't mean that Allegaeon have brought it back on Proponent for Sentience (2016), which is their fourth full-length album. Musically this is a natural progression on from the previous album, with even less melodic death metal elements, which has resulted in their longest and most adventurous album to date; music that is now somewhat progressive as well as technical. The only time you'll really get to hear what Riley McShane is capable of in the clean singing department for any length is during Subdivisions, a Rush cover song that was initially supposed to be a bonus track but ended up closing the album instead. It's done fully with clean singing (as one would expect – this is no Six Feet Under-esque interpretation). Elsewhere he sticks to his growl most of the time though there are clean vocal passages in some other songs such as Cognitive Computations and he even uses some throat singing on All Hail Science. The clean vocals feature quite prominently in Proponent For Sentience III - The Extermination as well, however those are by guest vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid of Soilwork. That song also features a guest guitar solo by Ben Ellis (ex-Bloodshot Dawn).

Increased complexity and less melodic death metal means that Proponent for Sentience isn't as instantly grabbing for me as Elements of the Infinite was, though you do still get tracks like Of Mind and Matrix, which I'm honestly surprised wasn't the album's lead single with its hook-laden melodic death metal chorus that produces a similar effect to the previous album's 1.618. That doesn't mean that the album doesn't reward a bit of perseverance. It's like most lengthy albums in that respect (this one clocks in past the seventy minute mark, whereas previous Allegaeon albums were between fifty to sixty). There's a lot of material to sink your teeth into and explore. And it's certainly worth exploring as along with the aforementioned Mind and Matrix as a highlight there is also the Proponent For Sentience trio of songs which are spread across the album, which make use of some symphonic elements, as well as the equally excellent Gray Matter Mechanics - Appassonata Ex Machinea, which I'd say is one of the album's more progressive tracks, with lots of acoustic work in conjunction with their usual death metal sound, including an extended acoustic section in the latter half of the track.

While I think I slightly prefer Elements of the Infinite to Proponent for Sentience, it's clear that Allegaeon are evolving as a band by leaps and bounds, so this one is just as recommendable release. If anything it's only real problem is that it hints at potentially better stuff to come thanks to their increasingly progressive way of writing and the vocal abilities of Riley McShane, which they may well have only scratched the surface of if what we can hear here is any indication.