Hey there tech-fiends, it's that time of the week again. We've got a killer early stream of the new Hadal Maw record to show you today. Before we dive into that, here's the usual weekly reminder that all prior editions of this series can be perused here.

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Back in 2014, Melbourne, Australia natives Hadal Maw seemed to come out of nowhere with their debut record, Senium, one of the strongest death metal records I heard that year. It impressed a lot of people, and rightly so, as it showcases a group who already had a well-developed sound all their own right out the gate. After a few years of writing, the band is close to dropping a new album called Olm this Friday through EVP Records.

After such a strong debut, I was curious to see what direction the band would go in this time, and it doesn't disappoint. On Olm, they go darker, colder, and more mechanical, somehow striking a perfect balance between continuing the sound they began with while augmenting it enough in order to avoid repeating themselves. Overall, the band is still playing their atmospheric and groovy brand of technical death metal, one that reminds me of a mix between Decapitated, Hate Eternal, Gojira and Meshuggah with a heaping helping of unearthly dissonance added in. Likewise, their music still features their signature blend of restrained-but-memorable lead playing that helped make their first album so fantastic.

After multiple spins of Olm, the biggest growth here seems to be in the songwriting department and also in the variety of different ways the compositions unfold from song to song. On Senium, they kicked off with a barnburner called "Aetas de Morior", and I'll admit, the first time I heard Olm, I was maybe hoping for that kind of thing on track one here too. But starting off with "Leviathan", a creepy and mechanical sounding opening intro track that's swiftly followed by "Affluenza", a lumbering weighty song, was a good idea. As it shows that they're committed to not repeating what they did before in the same way. I don't see the point in doing a track-by-track review usually, so suffice to say, all the tracks that follow are fucking killer too. With Olm, the band has proven yet again that they have a unique voice in the tech-death sphere, one that's not as flashy or frenetic at all times as a lot of tech-death, but they don't need to be. In fact, it's that very trait that ends up being their biggest asset. Olm follows its own muse at all times instead of following the pack. If you dig the early stream below, Olm can be pre-ordered through EVP Records here. Be sure to follow the band over on their Hadal Maw Facebook page too.

https://soundcloud.com/user-712881322/sets/hadal-maw-olm-1/s-VO8rW