I have often dabbled in the world of Spanish death metal, especially in the late 1990s when most of the bands had a boner for New Yawk style brootal (misspelled intentionally) death metal in the vein of a poor man’s Pyrexia and/or Suffocation. One of the bands that comes to mind is Uncreation with their 1997 hits "It Up My Ass" and "Black Pope". Most of you know that I mock, ever so cautiously. The bands were heavy on the bass and low on talent. This is an obvious blanket statement because there were some good bands that you can insert here: __________ …that should be enough space. However, the Xtreem label released a compilation (see review) a few years back that opened my ears quite a bit. This band really stood out on the release; intricate guitars with a nice dash of brutality and a black metal-ish growl that wasn’t all that irritating. I was anxiously awaiting a full-length release.

In 2006, Unreal Overflows released their full length Architecture of Incomprehension. After a couple of listens, I was sold on the bands fresh approach on a stale style of death metal. This stale style I refer to is technical death metal. This is an extremely difficult thing to do because amateur palates love guitars and solos and all that bullshit and swear by it. Give me a Broken Hope riff from 1993 and play it 30 times in a row and I am happy. The focus has become way too much on technicality than actual song writing. I visit this point pretty often because it is obvious that no one is listening. I find all this nonsense fairly comical because, in my eyes, classical guitar is the top level of guitar mastery. So all of these guys playing 4000 notes in 3 seconds does not really impress me all that much. Obviously, my focus is more on song quality. Unreal Overflows does a great job at showcasing their talent without being too overbearing.

Bands, I figure, in the technical realm, can go two different ways. One way is the likes of the California Disgorge and Malignancy, with technical guitars creating a wall of sound with a bit of groove. I have found that the new Defeated Sanity is quite the basher, and takes this style to a new level. The other way is the way paved by bands like Death, Cynic, and Pestilence, with much more atmosphere and cleaner production. This band is much like the latter. The first minute of the song "Breeders of Credibility" could have fit nicely on Death’s Human album. This album has tons of atmosphere, droning guitars, and intelligent riffing. I honestly thought I would not enjoy an album like this but it is just so damn interesting to listen to. "Interesting" seems like an odd way to describe an album but this is what comes to mind. Simple yet technical guitar lines are layered over distinct bass and clear drums. There are some parts where it gets a bit moshy, and oddly enough, it reminds me of Burn My Eyes era Machine Head. That may irritate some of the "I am underground till I die" people but it is pulled off well. Again, the vocals are growled/shrieked in the black metal style but the music is so good it doesn’t take much away from the music.

I must also note the layout of the songs. The album, as a whole, fits together quite nicely, as if a story is being told. I know many bands just throw things together but there seems as though there was some thought put into this. As I said before, this is an interesting release. Bands can rarely meld technicality with dark atmosphere without sounding as if they are trying too damn hard. The production is top notch as well. I am going to go out on a limb here and say this was one of the most underrated releases of 2006. And, if it counts for anything, which I don’t think it will, that means a lot for a technical/atmospheric band to be appealing to a guy who enjoys the simple mosh.

Written By: Double Ds