Alethian – Dying Vine
To put it simply, Pennsylvania’s Aletheian impress with their own blend of Atheist caliber compositions/technical playing style, meets melodic death metal. Minor synth textures fill in the background while choppy note fills become main rhythmic riff ideas in much the same way bands like Cynic and the aforementioned Atheist stunned guitar players everywhere with bizarre time signatures and equally awe inspiring fret board antics. Aletheian don’t constantly rely on this technique, for the do step out of the perplexing attack to embrace more normal sounding musical phrases that are very in key and center on ultra melodic harmonies and equally memorable chord progressions where layering of other guitar lines is most welcomed. Acoustic guitar bits come out of nowhere to accent certain guitar lines, and other such interesting twists in the songwriting act as distracters to keep the listeners attention locked in and on point. Vocally, Aletheian is just as interesting and open minded as their music. Everything from pitch singing, guttural death moans, and even a harsh black metal mid-range are on display to keep the compositions off centered and infinitely interesting. Virtuoso drum work. Avery full production. On this, Aletheian’s 3rd release, they have raised the bar for other American death metal bands to strive for this elevated level of quality. “Dying Vine” was a nice surprise indeed. – Marty
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