Animated Astonishing Ability into Tech-Death Matter: Archspire Shines and Dazzles the Sold-Out Brick by Brick in San Diego
April 17th, 2022
Athletes. Some of the athletes, and their remarkable features we immediately think of: Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player and arguably athlete, of all time, Eddie Hall deadlifting 500kg in world strongman tournaments, Wayne Gretzky having the most goals in NHL history, Serena Williams with 23 Grand Slam single titles, Fedor Emelianenko dominating the HW division in MMA, and the list goes on. We view these athletes, and countless others, as “magical”, obtaining outstanding excellence in their field, and beyond. For the incredible abilities and talent, we have in Extreme Music, we often don’t refer to those individuals and groups, as athletes. You might have not received the TPS report, on Archspire. From songs at 400 BPM, rapid machine gun fire guttural vocals, lightning speed, stellar string-skipping, and precision, from the bass and guitars, Archspire continues to defy what records and barriers are, completely overwhelming the Metal masses with their latest release, Bleed the Future. With all of the shows leading to tonight, sold-out, if not basically, the joy from the fanbase knows no bounds, and we were all immensely grateful to see this dynamic live work of art, once more.
The line already down the street from the building, everyone was eager to get in the venue, and not miss a single note.
Traveling all the way from South Africa, Vulvodynia’s Deathcore/Brutal Death Metal music on-stage got this already crowded venue’s attention. Although I’m personally not a fan of bands using 3 guitars for Deathcore style music, the tone and volume level didn’t sound muddy, or cracking bass-heavy. “A Cosmic Betrayal” displayed the band’s proficient technique, swift-moving riffs and key harmonics ending these bursting verse riffs. Duncan Bentley’s grimy, belting low growls, were a delight to listen to. Unassuming in-between songs, yet his personality through movement across the stage, and hammering the lyrics with a thunderous hammer, kept the energy ever-gunning. Described as also Brutal Death Metal, perhaps because the production didn’t feel that way tonight, I didn’t quite hear the Gore-Metal-like atmosphere or sheer, vicious tone during their set. Lwandile Prusent, the newest member of the band, performed like a veteran on-stage; from backing vocals, to an immense amount of movement, providing pummeling riffs and an escalating-filled solo around the middle of “The War Within.” The nature of their geography, as well as their raw talent, Vulvodynia’s opening set, helped set a rigorous, exciting tone, for the rest of this elated, butterfly-filled evening.
1. Mob Justice
2. A Cosmic Betrayal
3. Flesh Tailor
4. Eternal Wasteland of Galaxies
5. Unparalleled Insubordination
6. Psychosadistic Design
7. The War Within
8. Deicidal Finality
With Inferi playing next, you could feel the excitement with the fans, probably the band next to Archspire, the one they were looking forward to most. Immediately noticeable, Andrew Kim’s sizzling bass playing drew a multitude of eyeballs in his direction. The volume was high in the mix, but as a compliment. Because the heavy majority of the riffs followed the guitars, the low-end didn’t get in the way sonically, allowing the bass to be heard within each section of song. The last time I saw Inferi, was on the Obscura/Beyond Creation/Archspire tour in 2018, so it was refreshing to see them again, remembering their grandiose mix of Technical Metal and dark melodies. Hearing the low/high guitar melodies in “Simian Hive” from Malcolm Pugh and Mike Low, demonstrated the wicked-filled dementia in the direction of the riffs. Flashy to watch, and a delightfully dark listen. The riffing was not a bore, didn’t feel gimmicky, or ‘like the rest.’ Stevie Boiser’s high-pitched shrieks carried further dynamics to the tempo, with an on-going rhythm vocally that enhanced all of the instruments on-stage. His positive, contagious energy, fist-bumping the crowd throughout Inferi’s set, ensured why the crowd was this anticipatory for their set. Stoic on stage, yet displaying outstanding play, Malcolm Pugh’s starting vision of Inferi could be seen and heard, through the Milky-Way-like inspired solos, symphonic-sounding chords during the slower moments, particularly the middle of “Heirs of the Descent”. To be in the same place at a show where you see that member of the band, who started it all, I don’t ever take it for granted. Inferi’s 6-song set went by in a flash, and the amount of Inferi fans in the crowd, and I know new ones now, too, could have heard extra tracks and still not be satisfied. One of the strongest performances of the night.
1. Eldritch Evolution
2. Simian Hive
3. Mesmeric Horror
4. Heirs of the Descent
5. Behold the Bearer of Light
6. Aeons Torn
Not to be outdone before the main act, Entheos was set to get the crowd warmed-up and then some. Formed years ago, with members of Animals as Leaders and Animosity, Entheos took the clever, heavy parts of Metalcore, and made it their own. Tasteful breakdowns, well-crafted tremolo riffs, and caffeinated, bouncing energy from vocalist Chaney Crabb and both guitarists Brian James and Robert Brown, Entheos had the crowd in the palm of their hand fairly quickly. No bass guitar on this tour it looked like, but there was no lack of heaviness within their sound at all. Chaney’s vocals could have been a tad louder, to be truthful. However, her sinister-sounding growls, merciless headbanging, and a complete control of the cheering audience, Chaney made sure Entheos stayed in our memories and vision. The abilities of each member stood out, with the clean-sounding drum technique of Navene Koperweis. Beautiful rhythm, loud hits between the breakdowns, and some swift chops on the cymbal crashes, Navene’s stellar technique and precision stood out in Entheos. I heard constant frantic combinations with the Crash cymbal, and the unique beats it produced, added immense force to the stage. On the surface of a quick listen, hearing a few passages would indicate the band may sound like your standard Deathcore group, but as the breakdown riffs ensue, riveting-picked solos, found with this imaginative sound and ability, particularly noticed in playing an unreleased new track, the musical textures did not sound mundane, nor typical. The little details within the changing, melodic riffs, as well as stellar drumming and a dynamic vocalist, Entheos received heavy applause, and I could only imagine more touring coming up later this year.
1. Remember You Are Dust
2. The World Without Us
3. Chemical Flashbacks
4. (New song)
5. Black Static (I)
6. White Noise (II)
7. Perpetual Miscalculations
8. Neural Damage
9. (New song)
10. New Light
The Brick by Brick, completely sold-out, fans cramped in like a FedEx bubble package, with an extreme level of excitement for Archspire. Despite the other times I’ve seen the band perform, and those shows were solid overall, this felt completely different. Perhaps the lack of shows due to the global pandemic, let Archspire’s latest album, Bleed the Future, sit and stew in our minds and thoughts. Truthfully, I’m incredibly elated for the insane amount of success they’re enjoying on this tour. Absolutely well-deserved and earned.
Do not blink. That’s my advice for witnessing Archspire’s magnificent, relentless set. The exhaustion starts from watching these 5 gentlemen wreck havok on the musical world, not from the still speedy-moshpits that spawn during their play. It’s one thing to play incredibly quick, it’s another to keep the tempo feeling like it’s toned-down, yet still feel that same intensity. “Remote Tumour Seeker”, showing that described trait in the 1st verse, with Spencer Prewett’s devastating triplet double-bass, vicious in its power, yet groovy headbanging material. The controlled chaos-like catastrophe, for the ones up on the rail, was nearly impossible to look away from.
Not only are Archspire phenomenal musicians, they’re also fantastic bandmates. Using their abilities individually and together, the middle section and right into the clean interlude in “Bleed the Future”, Jared Smith’s bass wizardry riffing adds that punchy, grooving tone, while the Tobi Morelli and Dean Lamb’s tapping-string skipping-solo-riff assault does something slightly different, stopping on a dime to the soft passage of the song. As Archspire continues to break musical barriers, how do you continue to ascend that claim? Go faster, yes, but creating unique nuances and shifting dynamics, to create tempo manipulation during counterpoints, and whirl the audience into another stratosphere. The latest record, continues to see the band’s nonstop technique, and progressing evolution.
One to take, give, and deliver self-decrepitating humour between and during songs, all while delivering a tornado of growling, lyrical shotgun vocals and gurgles, with psychotic precision, Oliver Rae Aleron provided a massive amount of hilarious entertainment, as well as the criminally underrated vocal delivery, that matched with nearly all of Spencer’s fills. “Human Murmuration”, after the intensely melodic solo from Tobi, the ‘downward spiral into madness’-feel vocal assault from Oliver, gatling-speed rhythm, spewing the story of discovery of terrifying alien appearances, sensationally given with outstanding growls and technique. It's one thing to have chuckling dark humour with the band themselves and the crowd, and not only to pull that off, but to command the ‘symphony’ of musical structure and concept of Archspire’s furious astounding fury, you simply cannot believe what you’re seeing. The 9-song, 45-minute+ set, went by quicker than ever before. Better late than never, probably because the world has now finally fully seen, the extraordinary talent and will, Archspire has demonstrated for well over a decade, and the time-off between shows, this lethal, yet rousing occasion, held served to be a fantastic moment of Death Metal excellence.
From some of our greatest and most prestige athletes, we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have witnessed some of the most talented, inhuman-like, itched in stone moments, our short history has been able to comprehend, and appreciate. Archspire continues to defy what is humanly possible through a blistering, chaotic approach to Extreme Music and Metal. Look at the Drum playthroughs, studio work, and live shows of these bands, and you’ll see how it’s made, and why we gravitate towards it.
1. Remote Tumour Seeker
2. Bleed the Future
3. Abandon the Linear
4. A Dark Horizontal
5. Human Murmuration
6. Golden Mouth of Ruin
7. Rapid Elemental Dissolve
8. Involuntary Doppelganger
9. Drone Corpse Aviator