photos by Devin Tolman
Portland, Oregon technical death metal outfit ÆNIGMATUM has just issued a scorching playthrough video of bassist Brian Rush mauling the song “Animus Reflection.” The track is found on the band’s Deconsecrate LP, issued last August through 20 Buck Spin
Following their well-received eponymous debut, the idiosyncratic methodology of ÆNIGMATUM is instantly apparent from the whip-start blast of Deconsecrate’s opening track “Forged From Bedlam.” While the pace is frenetic, speed is never a crutch to be relied upon but rather one deliberate device in a sprawling collection of melodically precise and technically riveting fragmented death shards.
The eight songs on Deconsecrate constitute a labyrinthian structure of twisting nuanced complexity and intricate explosive chaos. Blood-freezing and incandescently beautiful at once, ÆNIGMATUM tempers their withering elaborate intensity with astonishingly elegant melodic passages carved into the mind like towering marble hallucinations. Immersing in Deconsecrate, one might be forgiven assuming they’d stumbled upon a lost obscurity of mid-1990s Gothenburg, the dark harmonies, the dual guitars, the staggering rhythm section; but in fact, ÆNIGMATUM has bequeathed a startlingly ambitious paragon of mystifying esoteric death metal magnificence. This one should not be missed by fans of Eucharist, The Chasm, At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, Necrophobic, Atrocity, Death, and early Opeth.
Deconsecrate’s drums and some of the rhythm guitars were engineered by Charlie Koryn at Toadhouse Studio, the rest of the rhythm as well as lead guitars, bass, drums, and vocals were engineered by the band’s Brian Rush at various locations. The album was re-amped by Leon Del Muerte (Impaled) at Beastman Audio, mixed by Charlie Koryn at The Underworld Studio, mastered by Julian Silva at On-Air Mastering, and completed with surreal artwork by Ivory Crux (Voidceremony) and layout by Dan Fried.
Watch ÆNIGMATUM’s bassist Brian Rush deftly navigate the perilous web of “Animus Reflection” RIGHT HERE.
Deconsecrate is available on LP, CD, cassette, and digital formats through 20 Buck Spin’s label webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE.
Watch for updates from ÆNIGMATUM throughout the year.
“Though the band themselves avoid references as much as possible to their sheer instrumental mastery, it’s really a lot of why this album is so impressive. It’s hard to write stuff that’s complex without it coming across wrong, or feeling weak, but ÆNIGMATUM tie together weird and difficult riffs alongside wicked bass and some of the fastest drums in the genre to give something that, despite evoking a few specific names (The Chasm, Alf-era At The Gates, Cynic) has something that is undeniably their own sound.” – Invisible Oranges
“…there’s a strange twist to AENIGMATUM. They’re tech and a hair unorthodox, as if they’ve studied Nechrophagist and Archspire’s master theses while jamming the fuck out of ‘Raped By The Light Of Christ’ and ‘Ever-Opening Flower’ as background music.” – Decibel Magazine
“On Deconsecrate, the second album from Portland death-metal quartet ÆNIGMATUM, that ambient horror slowly begins to take over, clouding the band’s joyful mutations as they careen along the borders of black, death, speed, tech, melodic—basically any high-velocity form of metal.” – Pitchfork
“…truly excellent. It’s one of the best sounding death metal albums I’ve heard in a while… It’s aggressive, it’s cohesive, and it wastes exactly zero of your time in getting to the point which is something hyper-intricate and engaging death metal.” – Heavy Blog Is Heavy
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