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2014 is not a great time to be in a 'clean' technical death metal band. These are messy times; murk and grime are on the rise for a reason. Fans who are a little on the older side remember the glut of plasticine tech death during aughts, too. It was not a great time for the genre.

But mechanical precision and jaw-dropping chops still have their place in death metal. These are messy times, but they're futuristically so. Metal fans are far more likely to battle information overload on a daily basis than they are to fight monsters or serial killers. Sweden's Soreption provide a compelling soundtrack for the daily grind.

Engineering the Void has exactly the kind of production you'd expect from a Unique Leader band — everything is trebly and compressed; the instruments are crystal clear, but it's hard to imagine how human hands or acoustic vibrations factor into their tones. Guitarist Anton Svedin knows how to wield these works of artifice, though. Soreption don't often employ the weenie prog-rock melodies that a lot of tech death bands rely on. Instead, Svedin lays about with his guitar like it's a big, spit-shined jackhammer, dealing out staccato beatings that involve more inarticulate squeals and scrapes than harmonies. This guy is a freakish, Vogg-like talent, and Soreption often remind me of Decapitated's underrated later material. The roiling riff that opens "The Nature of Blight" gives you a good picture of Svedin's considerable powers.

Engineering the Void comes out on February 18 via Unique Leader.

— Doug Moore

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