While far too many progressive and technical death metal bands are happy to walk the same path and stick to a tried-and-true sound, on their second full-length THE ZENITH PASSAGE forges new and exhilarating territory. From start to finish, Datalysium is driven by imagination and played by artists who have full command of their instruments, creating something that stands out of any pack while maintaining what made them such a riveting proposition in the first place.
Featuring an overhauled lineup that sees original guitarist/keyboardist/backing vocalist Justin McKinney joined by guitarist Christopher Beattie (Dreamer), vocalist Derek Rydquist (ex-The Faceless, John Frum), and bassist Brandon Giffin (ex-The Faceless, Cynic), Datalysium finds the band further pushing disparate influences to the forefront of their sound.
The band elaborates, “There’s always been things that were subtly done on previous releases, like jazz fusion passages, dissonant black metal, synth, and orchestral elements, as well as singing. What we haven’t done before is put those influences and ideas more upfront in the songwriting and production. Singing has become a pretty prominent part of some of these songs, as well as synth orchestration and really eerie, dissonant, pissed off black metal influence. We’re doing all of this while attempting to tell a harmonic and lyrical story that keeps the listener engaged and wondering what could happen next.”
The result is the perfect marriage of technical head-fuckery, atmosphere, melody, and shifting dynamics, constantly demanding the listener’s undivided attention. From opener “The Axiom Of Error” with its stop-start attack to the agitated, richly textured and unstoppable “Synaptic Depravation,” or the dramatic, lush and epic closing title track, THE ZENITH PASSAGE is relentlessly creative and insistently push their sound in interesting, engrossing directions.
In advance of the release of Datalysium, today the band unleashes first single, “Lexicontagion,” noting of the track, “‘Lexicontagion’ is a representation of the entire musical spectrum from the band. It is a song that takes you on a crazy adventure, with fast speeds and unexpected turns, while maintaining a familiar motif throughout the piece. We wanted to highlight the dynamics of the band on a compositional level and production level. So there’s a lot of depth to it, where the listener can discover a new element to the music upon each listen. Which is the case for the entire record, it’s a wild ride.”
