Список групп Technical Death Hannes Grossmann The Radial Covenant

Hannes Grossmann is an extremely talented German drummer. He currently plays in the mighty technical death metal bands Obscura and Blotted Science, probably two of the best bands in this kind of music. He also played with the legendary band Necrophagist, and recorded « Epitaph », which is an absolute masterpiece.
Last year he set up a crowd funding campaign for releasing his first solo album, The Radial Covenant. He announced multiple guests, among them : the guitar heroes Jeff Loomis (ex-Nevermore, Conquering Dystopia), Christian Muenzner (Obscura, Spawn of Possession), Ron Jarzombek (Watchtower, Blotted Science, Spastic Ink), Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry), Danny Tunker (Aborted, Ex-God Dethroned). The bassist Linus Klausenitzer (Obscura, Noneuclid). And the vocalists Morean (Dark Fortress, Noneuclid) and V.Santura (Triptykon, Dark Fortress). When I saw it I was astonished. First of all because Hannes Grossmann is one of my absolute favorite drummers, and then because Obscura, Spawn of Possession and Blotted Science are also some of my all time favorite bands.
Now let's listen to the album. The result is amazing, and sounds quite like Obscura. Hannes Grossmann explained : « The music on the album sounds a lot like my band Obscura, but that's just how I compose. The reason not to release it as an Obscura album is simple: Obscura is a band, which means that four people work together and create music as a collective. If I write 45 minutes of music on my own, it has to be a solo record. »
In the album, Hannes plays all the drums and most of the rythm guitar parts. He also plays some lead guitar parts and solos. The bass player is always Linus Klausenitzer from Obscura, the keyboardist Jimmy Pitts and the vocalist Morean from Dark Fortress and Noneuclid, often along with V.Santura from Triptykon and Dark Fortress.
The first track to be released is also the first track of the album, « Aeon Illuminate ». If like me you are a drummer, the first eight seconds of the song made you cry. The drum part is insane : you are warned, this album is highly technical. Not surprising with such musicians. One of the first thing I noticed is the natural sound of the instruments : no drum triggers, and the guitar sound is clean and greatly improved, but doesn't sound synthetic.
The first part of the song is clearly Technical Death Metal stuff. Crazy blast beats, fast and catchy guitars, harsh vocals : the perfect combination. Then comes a slower part. The riff is groovy, and become melodic and atmospheric, more like « prog stuff », the voices are softer. It is now time for some « weird » guitar parts, announcing the epic guitar solo played by Hannes Grossmann himself that comes after in the middle of the song. Then we're back to the first catchy riff for half a minute before the « heavy » transition. The guitars are slower and the voice deeper... Something is going to happen... And here we are : the technical side of the song is laid aside for a beautiful and magical melody, going along with a more simple drum beat and soft clear voices. The bass line is really nice and present, but it's not a solo. Then a snare roll and a guitar growing crescendo let us know that an epic outro is coming, and yes this is it, the melody is so beautiful. Eight minutes and fifteen seconds of « epicness », and it's only a beginning.
The next song is Alien Utopia. It begins with a catchy and groovy drum beat. Then the guitars join the party making the groove even better. After 45 seconds the track turns fast again, the blast beats are back. As from now the fast technical death metal parts are alternating with heavy riffs and deep vocals, until a slow and groovy part with a big bass line and more reserved guitars let us know that a guitar solo is coming. After Christian Muenzner taught us how to play guitar for real, the song is back on its groovy/heavy side, before letting an « Obscura-like » melody settle for the outro. This song is less fast and atmospheric than Aeon Illuminate, its more based on heavy and groovy kinds of stuff.
Now it's time for another heavy song, even more. The Sorcerer has a nice ten seconds long clear intro. The guitar part sounds more like « traditional » death metal, the drumming is slower and more based on big double bass patterns, and the voice is deeper. The combination of those elements make the track « heavy as f*ck ». Impossible to keep your head unmoving while listening to this song. Like always the one minute guitar solo played by Danny Tunker in the middle of the song is epic. It seems that the two guitarists are playing a « question/answer » game. The Sorcerer is closed by ambient sounds progressively disappearing. In brief, this song is compound by different heavy parts, with a big guitar solo in the middle. Maybe it's a little too heavy, but really effective.
Solar Fire Cells is the fourth track of the album. This time the beginning of the song is more technical death metal than The Sorcerer. After an short melodic intro, the fast blast beats are back, the drum transitions are still very technical, as much as the guitar parts. Then Hannes is using some strange odd time signatures and rhythms, the guitars follow him greatly. Morean and V. Santura voices are really harsh and are well matched with the instruments. Then the guitar solo is made by the renown Tom « Fountainhead » Geldschläger. The acoustic guitar is very nice and make a good transition until the fast and brutal ending.
This track is a short technical song, with a nice recurrent melody. This is the shortest of the album. Fast, melodic and efficient... what else?
The next track is called The Voyager, it's an instrumental one, with amazing solo guests. Jeff Loomis and Ron Jarzombek play lead guitars. From 1m30 to the end of the song, the solos practically never stop, and this is great stuff. The technique never fails but this isn't « technical masturbation ». Jeff and Ron gave us a good lesson.
Now it's time for the title track of the album, The Radial Covenant I & II, « I & II » because it's divided in two different parts. The song begins with a keyboard intro, followed by a nice melodic guitar part along with drum rhythms. Then it's alternating between soft prog moments, with a big bassline that is really present and soft drumming (when I say soft I don't mean easy, nothing is easy in this album), and more fast and brutal moments with harsh vocals and blast beats. Some parts are more atmospheric, with clear singing and make good transitions. The first part stops around 5''30. The second one has less singing, more solos and is more « progish » and atmospheric. Per Nilsson gives us a great and varied guitar solo, along with the complex drum patterns of Hannes Grossmann. The ending is more brutal and the harsh vocals are back.
The album ends on a piano version of the song Euclidean Elements by Obscura. This is nice but maybe a too long for an outro. But it's interesting to hear a different way of playing this song.

To sum up, The Radial Covenant is a really great album, I mean really really great. The fans of technical death metal will be delighted by the complexity of every instrument. And the fans of more traditional death metal will be delighted by the brutality and the rhythms. All the musicians are world class and renowned and with the talent and compositions of Hannes Grossmann, the result is awesome. The production of the album is of high quality. The instruments sound natural, not like lots of bands using drum triggers and programming. The only weak point is the piano version of Euclidean Elements which is too long in my opinion for an outro. I think this song would be more interesting in a bonus CD in a limited sample for example.
It is definitely one of my favorite death metal albums of these last years. I hope there will be another one next year.
My grade : 18/20.