Welcome to The Saw’s Butcher Shop! It’s ya girl, The Saw; and if you aren’t listening to Archspire’s new album, Bleed the Future (2021, Season of Mist), you are missing out on a Math Metal masterpiece. You already know that The Saw’s favorite is Death Metal, and Archspire are at the top of the Technical Death Metal sub-genre. 

If you have been buried six feet deep and don’t know about Archspire: 

Archspire is from Vancouver, British Columbia. The band formed in 2007 under another name, and in 2009 became Archspire. In 2011 they dropped their debut album, All Shall Align (Trendkill Recordings). 2014 saw the release of the band’s sophomore release, The Lucid Collective (Season of Mist). And in 2017 Archspire released the album that secured their place at the top of the heap, Relentless Mutation (Season of Mist). 

Archspire is: 

Oliver “Oli” Aleron – Founding member (vocals); Tobi Morelli – Founding member (guitars); Dean Lamb – Founding member (guitars); Spencer Prewett – Founding member (drums) and; Jared Smith (bass). 

Archspire self-identifies as Extreme Technical Death Metal, and there is something very different about their brand of Tech Death. Bleed the Future is a brilliant expression of the genius individual parts – the individual members – of the band. 

The vocal patterns, mostly gutterals of varying register (but with screams, pig squeals, and roars), literally “shotgun” bark a clear message of the future – the vocals are another instrument layered into the labyrinth of the song structure. The bass is not just a staple of the rhythm section, anymore, but is a major player of the ethereal harmony and melody spectrum; sometimes accenting the blasts of the drums, sometimes spiraling with the guitars, and sometimes spreading the sound wave on its own. The drums are some of the quickest double bass, fastest blast beats, and blurring symbol work all brought into a controlled frenzy that drives each song. Spiraling, ascending and descending frets, power chords, tremolo pics, acoustic, atmospheric, guitars blend in and through each track, with break-neck time changes and signatures that at first seam random and insane, but are actually calculated and incredibly inspired. It’s quite dramatic (as “Drone Corpse Aviator” exemplifies). 

Archspire are a thinking band and Bleed the Future is a forward-thinking record that pushes the limits of possibilities (and probabilities) in Technical Death Metal. They break speed barriers (360 BPM), but maintain pin-point accuracy, hooks (and double hit hooks), timing, flow, textures, and control the chaos. Extreme is right!

I don’t put Archspire or Bleed the Future in the “Brutal” category. I don’t get the sense of darkness that accompanies Brutal Tech Death. In fact, I think Bleed the Future shines a bright light on the Tech Death world to draw attention to its brilliance. And its just fun! 

Song Listing:

Drone Corpse Aviator – 3:46

Golden Mouth of Ruin – 4:05

Abandon the Linear – 4:35

Bleed the Future – 3:48

Drain of Incarnation – 4:19 

Acrid Cannon – 4:08

Reverie on the Onyx – 3:46

A.U.M. – 3:03

Favorite Song: Every single track is awesome (no fillers, here)! But, “Golden Mouth of Ruin” is the song I’d pick to exemplify everything that Archspire is as a band to someone who has never heard them. 

Rating: 10/10!! No fillers, clean, less than 40 minutes long, beautiful brilliance, like a machine! 

Stay Metal,

THE SAW