ANACHRONISM
Meanders
(Unorthodox Emanations)
33:13min

ANACHRONISM is a four-piece dissonant / technical Death Metal band hailing from Lausanne, Switzerland and “Meanders” is their third full length. Having discovered the band mid-last year, I was incredibly impressed by their second full length “Orogeny” and kept a tab of the band’s announcements leading to “Meanders”. If you’re a fan of later GORGUTS and ULCERATE, ANACHRONISM is like a love letter straight to your heart! When you see a band member wearing a VIRVUM shirt, you know they’ve got their priorities straight. Would I be worried if they wore a shitty band’s shirt? Yes, no doubt I would be. Am I being a tad too judgemental there? Yes. Anyway, the band has a female lead singer which honestly doesn’t matter to me, but with their incredible musicianship coupled with a female growler, I’m surprised they’re not as big as what I thought they’d be. Coming to the music itself, ANACHRONISM has actually managed to do what incredibly few bands managed to do in the past few years, they put out an actual original record. Take the sting off “Obscura” and put together the brilliant atmosphere of ULCERATE and add to it some Swiss chill in the form of carefully calculated and executed drumming where there literally isn’t an extra note anywhere. The drummer seems to have paused now and then, taken a reading of the room and put in exactly what was needed, this is a rarity in the age of BPM wars but it is something that truly stands out in my opinion. The riffs, oh well! The riffs constantly push into territories to raise the music to the next plateau as and when possible. No, these aren’t brand new riffs to put NECROPHAGIST or CYNIC to shame (that might never happen in our lifetime!). These however are insanely precise executions of a vision that collide with the overall rhythm in the same way the ocean fights the sand. Right from the opening track ‘Contrasts’, the band creates an envelope of pitch-perfect rhythm, shifting and rummaging through their brains to construct a puzzle so delicate that it demands your entire attention. Speed is of little consequence here, the songwriting mimics a painter’s approach as in, build in the canvas one small grid at a time. The band breaks from their relentless assault into a melodic breakthrough of complex rhythms with ease and gets back to the war mode immediately. The calmer parts are the best and you wonder what the writing process is like for these sections, are the band working as a unit or is there a primary songwriter here? I’d be really interested to know that! I have to say it’s a similar approach to what VIRVUM did, but ANACHRONISM displays a sense of maturity rather than urgency that takes the cake. Track # 2 ‘Meanders’ is a brilliant example, the band builds up a skeletal structure, deconstructs it towards the end like a dissatisfied apprentice chistling away in the basement. They never lose the melodic gaze in the midst of dissonance which is a rarity to hear these days. I particularly keep an eye out for dissonant Black Metal which I think is one of the most creative endeavours these days and ANACHRONISM certainly goes head-to-head with the greats in that space. I love focussed music such as this, this is as much about execution as it is on the vision. I’ve got a copy of this already and “Meanders” has been in constant rotation since the time of the release. Every single instrument breathes a unique slice of life into their sound and I’m incredibly excited for this band. I want to see them live either in North America (preferably in Canada) or I’ll time my visit across the pond to see them somewhere in Europe. Highly recommended! For more ANACHRONISM information, please visit https://anachronismdeath.bandcamp.com and www.facebook.com/anachronism.band

Vamsi Kanagovi

Vamsi Kanagovi

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