The biggest misconception about death metal is that all death metal sounds the same. While there are many different elements that distinguish a band like Cannibal Corpse from Obituary to Suffocation, Archspire is a band that completely redefines elements of death metal and technical death metal. With many people coming on board with this band after their 2017 release of Relentless Mutation on Season of Mist, there were many people eagerly awaiting these Canadian tech death masters.

Technical Death Metal is one of the most experimental forms of extreme music in which experimentation is key behind it. Relentless Mutation is an album where every song plays by its own rules but has a constant uncompromising flow to it. With the drums, riffs and vocals following each other to a T. This is an album that if you blink, you missed something and with every passing listen you will discover something new and listening to it through a pair of headphones, a speaker and of course, live, it will always be a completely different vibe no matter how many times you have listen to Relentless Mutation.

May 24^th at The Kingsland is a testament to the talent of Archspire and the dedication of their fans. Many people were excited to hear Relentless Mutation in its entirety plus some old stuff from their catalogue. After some kick ass local acts, Wormhole, Virvum, and Inferi, Archspire takes the stage. Kicking right in with Involuntary Doppelganger the room itself became just as relentless as the album itself. As mentioned before, Relentless Mutation is one of the most uncompromising death metal albums where if you blink, you missed something, the room itself became just as insane. If you were in the front, you got the full force of Oli’s intense and super fast guttural death metal growls that are super fast beyond belief, Tobi and Dean’s intense riffs and soloing that are skull crushing, Jared’s unique sound and style of bass playing with a guitar style technique, and the blastbeats of Spencer’s drumming that move so fast you can barley see the sticks would hit you so hard in the face. It is the best punch in the face you can possibly imagine. If you were in the middle of that room or in the back, the crowd participation would create a pit so intense, the concert turned into a fight for survival.

Another thing that is unique is while Archspire was playing Relentless Mutation in its entirety, it wasn’t in order like what Cavalera Conspiracy did with Roots, or what Fear Factory did with Demanufacture. I found it ironic and interesting since all the songs you hear are the album are played in the order that they wrote them in. By doing that, it kept the show just as crazy and added mystery to their performance. When The Mimic Well kicked in, the pit opened up from wall to wall. When we heard the mysterious intro to Murmuration, we all got chills. When we heard that signature vocal intro to Calamus Will Animate they audience sang (or atleast tried)  to go along with the super fast vocals that Oli was spitting towards the crowd. There is something that is not only brutal about an Archspire performance, but also mesmerizing as well. They aren’t just technical death metal because of their sound, but because of the technical capabilities that all five of these guys are able to execute. Even if you are not a fan of this style of music, you can still appreciate how they are able to execute their sound. While the vocalist of Archspire was moving around and interacting with the audience, you can see how Dean, Tobi and Jared are able to maintain great stage presence while focusing on executing the songs so the audience can still hear their favorite songs. This is a style of extreme music that cannot hide behind the smoke screen of distortion. If Spencer misses one beat, Oli forgets one word, or a note of Tobi, Dean and Jared is slightly botched, you will hear it and it can alter the overall execution of the composition of their songs. It is truly remarkable how this band can create an album that is a half hour of pure brutality, execute it live in its entirety in a different order, as well as playing older material in between, and still execute it note for note, will still being able to engage with the audience in a very small room where people are crowdsurfing on the stage, and people, drinks and more unidentified objects are flying everywhere.

Last but not least, another thing that needs to be mentioned with Archspire is of course, their sense of humor. I still ask myself after seeing this band multiple times, and listening to the album over 100 times already, how on earth can these guys create something so complex and amazing, yet not take themselves too seriously? In my interviews with Tobi, Jared and Deam at Namm this year, and interviewing Oli before the performance at The Kingsland, they are some of the funniest people in extreme music. They love to roast eachother on stage, make constant jokes and make you laugh at their show despite getting the crap kicked out of you in the pit.

With Oli, encouraging “clam” applause (one hand clapping) and his neon applause sign that he held over the heads of all their members as they were playing, Archspire is a band that brings life to death metal.

Relentless Mutation came out in 2017 via Season Of Mist.