MIAZMA — North (review)

MIAZMA — North album cover Album · 2016 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
MIAZMA comes from the heart of Australia in the outback desert city of Alice Springs which is probably one of the remotest inhabited places on the planet! This band has been around since 2008 and has risen in the ranks of the technical death metal world after the release of the debut “Bacteria Of This Earth” in 2013 when they went on tour with The Amenta and Party Vibez. In 2011 the band cofounded “The Black Wreath Collective” which is a self-funded record label and recording studio that serves the vastness of Australia’s desert interior.

Not surprisingly, in a town of only 26,000 inhabitants and hundreds of miles from the nearest city, the band’s lineup has remained stable with Jackson Smith (vocals), Shaun Howell (guitar), Malcolm McDonald (drums), Tim Glyde (guitar) and Daniel Simmons (bass). This band has mastered an amazing display of tech death that has kept them busy touring with Tasmania’s Psycroptic, the black metal band Impiety from Singapore and supposed King Parrot at the Blacken the Globe Festival in their home city.

NORTH is the band’s second album and was released in 2016.Sounding most like France’s Gojira, MIAZMA deliver pummeling guitar riffs, fast paced bass and drums with twisted labyrinthine progressions most reminiscent of 90s Death. The Swedish band Bloodbath as been cited as an influences as have Slayer, Blotted Science and Cattle Decapitation. NORTH is a consistently brutal delivery of nine tracks that showcase an intense brutality coupled with blistering technical workouts. Like many tech death bands, the tunings are slightly untuned for dissonant jangles and intense abrasiveness. Smith’s vocals are on the lower side of guttural with both growls and intense shouting.

The technical aspects are quite impressive but the band maintains a sense of keeping the compositions somewhat rooted to old school death metal rather than completely going off into the stratosphere with the progressive touches. Overall NORTH is a decent slice of brutal tech death metal that will please all the hardcores out there. The weakest aspect of MIAZMA in general is not unusual for bands like this, namely lack of originality. While the performances are excellent and the tracks are enjoyable, there aren’t really enough elements that would make anyone recognize this band’s sound. They sound most similar to France’s Gojira but not quite as creative as that band. Despite it all, MIAZMA is definitely a band to watch out for. They got the rest of the tech death thing down pat.
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