lista zespołów Technical Death Avicularia Born to be Vile

Croatian death metal wrecking crew Avicularia recently sent me a copy of their debut record, ‘Born to be Vile’. I’ve taken on a few reviewing options from Spirit of Metal, and it has allowed me to experience a more underground scene that I didn’t really get into much. As much as I enjoy seeking out the new and interesting metal acts that appear every day, I’m not a comber of Myspace etc. There’s a large issue of sameyness that generally infects most Myspace metal that is not my thing, and the fact that bands pop up every day is starting to overcrowd every genre you can name, without necessarily producing quality goods, is becoming irritating to say the least.

Avicularia are something a bit different however. Their profile on Metal Archives lists them as Avante Garde/Death Metal, and their name is Latin for the family of spiders of which the tarantula is one. So that instantly sets them apart; its refreshing to have a band that isn’t named with a phrase or an unnecessarily complicated, philosophical edge. It is a simple statement of intent; in this world where things are less frightening and nightmare images are a lot more mainstream, spiders still give most people the creeps. Avicularia present their death metal in a clattering, technical barrage, leaving the groove and thrash behind to create a pretty devastating assault on the senses. In a way, they can become quite spider like; the crushing ‘Confrontation’ scatters all over the place, peppering your ears with pinch harmonic squeals, juddering riff patterns and a brutal vocal performance. They remind me of a less polished Cryptopsy in moments like these, controlled chaos refined to devastating effect. ‘Stand By’ could be a thinner, less atmospheric Nile cut, the steamrolling intro riffing flattening everything that gets in the way, progressing into a thunderously technical section. In fact much of the album is like this, barrage after barrage of massive riffs punctuated by squealing harmonics and inhuman growls. Their centrepiece however, is the towering title track, which starts with some lovely, calm pastoral finger picking before a train hits it and it takes off into more familiar territory.

I like this album; its a dizzying mix of brutality, technicality and enough odd moments to set it apart from other such bands. Hopefully the band can keep their evolution going, and inject more into the vicious, tech-death beast they’ve unleashed here.