Customer Reviews

Informis, Infinitas, Inhumanitas

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Thus quoteth Alan Rickman in the film _Dogma_, as sampled in the intro to "Inhuman" - perhaps one of the funniest and most appropiately-themed samples I've ever heard in any form of music.

What can be said about Origin that has not yet already? Probably very little. However, I'll give it a shot.

The instrumentation is simply ridiculous in its delivery. The endless shredding on the three sets of fretboards from guitarists Paul and Jeremy, and bassist Mike Flores, combined with the explosive and machine gun-like battery of John J. Longstreth, make for never-ending stretches of barrage (in perhaps three tempos: fast, ultra-fast, and inhuman fast); it is this jazz-like unpredictability that makes Origin's music a risk to anyone with a knack for headbanging (one is fairly likely to either break their neck or even be decapitated as a result!). And let's not forget the vocals: James' berserk, chillingly inhuman grunting, screaming, and growling (often dovetailed by equally effective backing vocals from Paul and Jeremy) recite often very long and complicated passages of verse with an almost absurd dexterity.

This is technical music from another dimension. Highly recommended for fans of the Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah, and some of the more or less "typical" technical death metal bands like Morbid Angel and Nile. For more great over-the-top technical death, check out Necrophagist and Psyopus.

Finally, I'd recommend putting IcyHot on your neck *before* hitting the PLAY button when this CD is in your player.

The title of this review says it all. This album is the fastest and most technical brutal death metal ever. Period. Not even bands of a similar nature such as Cryptopsy can even come close to it. Also, don't fool yourself into thinking that the songs on this album must be incredibly simplistic and very repetitious to be so fast - these songs have as much variety in playing as they have in speed. From start to finish, "Informis..." will truly batter you and dazzle you with the absolutely insane abilities of Origin. Another pitfall to avoid is thinking that this is the kind of album that can ONLY be made in the studio - these guys are flawless performing live as they are on this disc, which is almost as amazing as the music itself. Many reviewers have written glowing reviews about this album, and none of them have been in vain.

Particularly stand out tracks (though ALL are amazing) are "Inhuman", "Meat For The Beast" and "Portal".

If you're into the absolute extreme technical death metal ala Cryptopsy and perhaps Myrkskog (their new album), then I VERY HIGHLY recommend this! It will forever be a stand out album in terms of its unique nature and one of a kind sound. It is a challenge to the rest of the extreme metal community to possibly try and match. The band's name speaks the truth - they truly are the modern 'origin' of amazing, technical death metal.

I'll keep this review short.(By my standards anyway) This is a good death/grind album. Not excellent but interesting enough to be worth your time if you like the style.

This is the most 'extreme' metal album I've ever heard. The guitar tone isn't the heaviest ever, but the sheer speed and unrelenting nature of the riffs, combined with a totally insane drum assault pretty much crush the vast majority of the opposition. The drumming on this album is simply unbelievable(though they say it's heavily triggered). It's got all the speed and intensity of your standard death or grind blastbeat but avoids the standard and simple 2 beat pattern that most extreme drummers use. All in all, this is one of the most spectacular drummers I've heard in 'extreme' metal, surpassed only by Flo and Brann, from Cryptopsy and Mastodon, respectively. The drum production leaves a bit to be desired. The bass drums are a bit too small and ticky sounding, which occasionally gets on my nerves, as they are going constantly. The guitars are very solid as well. They've got sickening speed, but still are clear and distinct, and even vaguely melodic from time to time. They've got a nice mix of trem and/or non-chord based riffing combined with an unusually choppy(for death metal) somewhat thrash-like riffing. The main weakness are the vocals. This band uses three vocalists, and none of them are very good. They've got 2 growlers and a black metalish screech-growler. The screech-growler is the best of them, though their main problem isn't so much their voices as it is how the vocal lines are written. They are extremely rhythmic and staccatto with an excessively obvious and excentuated melody(such as they have). It's hard to describe. The best I could say is that the vocal lines are structurally a lot more like a rhythm guitar part than they are like most metal vox parts.(The vocal lines even mirror the guitar parts a lot of the time) This isn't helped by the fact that the main growlers doesn't enuciate at all, perhaps the worst I've heard, which makes them even more repetitive. All this gives them a sort of cold, mechanistic feel, which I don't really care for. However, it is very distinctive, and makes the album a tad more interesting, even if it isn't in a totally positive way.

It's hard to pick out standout tracks, as they're ain't much variety here. Frankly, I have a hard time remembering anything too specific about some of the tracks, but they are all good, with out any of them really being fantastic. Portal is probably my favorite, and it is one of the most varied tracks, with a relatively subdued, even atmospheric mid-section and some more melodic guitar work. Inhuman is great too, particularly the intro after the opening sample. I remember Perversion of Hate is another particularly strong track, though I can't recall much about it right this second.

Anyways, me like. Perhaps you would like, who know? END REVIEW NOW!!!!!

This last word in technical death metal. This music is beyond fast, beyond brutal, and beyond belief. The drummer is either an octopus or is possessed by Satan. The blast beats and double bass rolls are incomprehensibly fast. (I think he may be an octopus possessed by Satan.) Listen to the sound samples for "Portal" and imagine the smoke coming off of that man's bass drum pedals. Anyway, this album makes a perfect mother's day gift, and if you play it for your new girlfriend, you're guaranteed to get laid.

Oh man some really serious music here.People this drummer is incredible without a doubt.People say crimson thorn are the heaviest this drummer alone could easily make crimson thorn look like beginners for sure.Agressive album and a serious must buy GO BUY IT NOW.

This is easily the heaviest and fastes band in the secular industry. The point of this album is to grind, pummel, ad be as heavy as possible, and contrary to popular belief it does take talent to play in the key B and B Flat to make it sound like anything than a deep low buzz. While there are heavier bands than this, this is definately the fastest deathmetal band. If you want heavier than this, look no further than Crimson Thorn, Disencumbrance, and Vomitorial Corpulence. If you don't believe they are heavier give them a listen and check out the tabs, and you will find they play heavier, and louder than these guys. Slipknot fans beware, this CD is WAY TOO INTENSE FOR YOU! So slipknot fans have to stick with the rapcore crap they like, and leave us true metalheads to listen to truly talented and extreme artist. LONG LIVE DEATH METAL!

Origin specializes in ridiculously technical, fast, and punishing death/grind metal. Crimson Thorn is heavier, but man these guys beat them in technicality. This band has my fav. drummer of all time! Origin's specialty is the kind of inhumanly technical, high-speed death metal that causes listeners to sit back and say, "Wow, how on earth do they play that stuff?" There are few parts of this CD where the drums are not going at full speed!!! Meanwhile, the two guitars are also playing complicated parts, interweaving and harmonizing with one another rather than merely playing the same riffs or splitting up into lead versus rhythm roles. In any case, this album is a fairly good example of technical death metal. This is an absolute GET RIGHT NOW kind of CD so quit reading the reviews, and ignore any review under 5 or 4, and get this CD!

All you need to know: awesomely produced mega-heavy hyper-technical death metal band with moments incredible enough to make your soul shiver like the pulse of a bowstring. YOING.

Yes Crimson thorn are heavier but the drummer in this band make crimson thorn look like amateurs.I have never heard a drummer so phenominal in my life.The vocals are a bit low but the very insane drumming make up fot it.

One word: Relentless. With the drummer using one-handed rolls, constantly using 2 ride cymbals, and never a period of more than 3 seconds without his double footed bass drum rolls (about 584 beats in 30 seconds!), this cd is speed/death metal at its best. No doubt. The vocalists are not your regualar death metal screamers; they consistently change the rhythm to their screams instead of the normal "scream on count" style. If you love hard, fast metal, I would really recommend this CD.