Origin-Antithesis

I'm incredibly picky with extreme metal, specifically death metal. I've always felt like most bands in the genre bored me, though I respect their talents. There have been a few notable exceptions over the years, such as Dark Tranquillity, Vital Remains, and the band I'm reviewing now, the mighty Origin.


This band can play better than you. Its a pretty established fact. Most of the focus goes to skinsman John Longstreth, who deservedly gets a lot of credit for helping make this band so (in)famous. But some of the real stars of this album are guitarists Paul Ryan and Jeremy Turner, whose speed and technical prowess could put most of the noodlers out there to shame. The previously mentioned three musicians don't leave you feeling bored like most tech-death bands, but rather floored. How can human play this fast without the assistance of computer tools and whatnot? Hell the intro to "Wrath of Vishnu" sounds like they smoked crack, put on Calculating Infinity and said "dude let's try this for a change." Its catchy as hell, and also confusing as hell (in a good way of course!).

What stood out to me about this record wasn't just how fast they played, but the underlying melodies and surprisingly catchy riffs. In these departments, the bands usually prefer to stray away and try to remain as "brutal" as possible, thus sometimes forgetting that you're writing, what do they call them again? Oh yeah, SONGS. Origin write SONGS that just happen to feel like you're getting hit in the face with an anvil repeatedly. And craft up some really insanely catchy riffs and melodies that might be hard at first to pick up with first listen, but with a few more, you're hooked.

I suppose if I had one complaint, it would be that the vocals are kind of buried in the mix. You can still hear them decently well, but they should stand out more on a death metal album if you ask me.

If you're finding yourself bored with extreme music, especially the overcrowded technical death metal scene, give this a shot. It might not be super-revolutionary or anything like that, but it sure is a lot of fun (and the fun of trying to air drum to this is certainly tiring).