ORIGIN — Unparalleled Universe (review)

ORIGIN — Unparalleled Universe album cover Album · 2017 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Unparalleled Universe" is the seventh full-length studio album by US death metal act Origin. The album was released through Agonia Records in June 2017. It´s the successor to "Omnipresent" from 2014 and features an identical four-piece lineup of Paul Ryan (vocals, guitars), Mike Flores (vocals, bass), John Longstreth (drums), and Jason Keyser (lead vocals).

"Unparalleled Universe" opens with "Infinitesimal to the Infinite", which pretty much sounds exactly how you´d expect an opening track on an Origin album to sound like. Ultra fast-paced guitar sweeps and blasting drumming, highly energetic and controlled chaotic, technical, brutal and sharp death metal with both growling vocals and higher pitched screaming vocals.

"Unparalleled Universe" unfortunately also suffers from the same issues as the preceding Origin releases, and that´s the lack of memorable songwriting. Everything is so over the top in regards to brutality and technical playing, that the band seem to forget to write catchy songs. I understand this isn´t pop music and it´s not meant to be easily accessible, but a hook or a memorable moment here and there wouldn´t hurt. When they put their mind to it, they are able to do it (like the closing melodic sequence to "Cascading Failures, Diminishing Returns"), but they predominantly focus so much on technical playing and brutality that the music often lacks dynamics and impact.

From a technical standpoint this is highly impressive music. The skill involved to pull off playing these tracks at the breakneck speed that´s required are amazing to say the least. Breaks, tempo changes, and fast, fast, fast-paced guitar riffs and rhythms. "Unparalleled Universe" features a pretty well sounding production job, although the clicky sounding bass drums are placed a bit too high in the mix. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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