Up & coming French Progressive Death Metal act Fractal Universe released a wildly awesome record recently titled “Rhizomes Of Insanity”. There’s a reason we recently had them as our January Artist Of The Month. These guys have been getting better every release, and they’re one of the genre’s best kept secrets….until recently. The guys signed to Metal Blade Records and were independently releasing their mesmerizing tunes. “Engram Of Decline” was an amazing album and I legitimiately lost it when I heard the perfectly written song “Sons Of Ignorance”. They write some of the freshest, pretty technical and original prog/tech metal to this day. Fractal Universe doesn’t overdo their compositions to the point it’s a boring shredfest, and that’s a compliment I mean it. There’s a lot of groove in the riffs, and there have been since day one.
For the long time fans, there is more singing on “Rhizomes Of Insanity”. It’s more experimental and might turn away the fans who are expecting more death metal. It’s still a heavy album, but if you’re not open minded you probably will hate this album. “Engram Of Decline “was pretty heavy, but was still very prog as well. They definitely upped their game with this release and I think it’s a great piece of art.
Clement’s drum performance on this album is monstrous. He’s a great drummer and certainly proved it again with this new release. He’s very versed, and created great fills when he needs them…..he didn’t overdo it, and that’s a good thing. The drummer is supposed to be the backbone of a band along with the bassist, and that’s very true in Fractal Universe’s case. Valentin’s bass playing is pretty good too and arguably has as many tasty fills as his rhythmic counterpart Denys.
What can I say about Hugo and Vince without repeating myself? Their multitude of jaw dropping guitar playthrough musically speak many volumes of their talents. There’s great melodic leads, meaty riffs, and lots of psyhcaldelic/progressive sections that keep you guessing every single song. Vince’s voice has gotten better, especially his annunciation. Being from France, as expected their english isn’t perfect. I definitely noticed an improvement with that, and his gritty voice fits his band’s sound just as well.
France has some great tech/prog bands such as Gorod and Gojira…..and then there’s these awesome lads. They invoked a lot of different emotions, melodies and blended more influences than their previous LP and EP before “Rhizomes Of Insanity”. Keep an open mind for this one, I beg you. It’s a great album with a lot of memorable sections, and is still plenty heavy. Maybe more signing and clean guitar parts aren’t for you…..but if they’re not you’re missing out heavily. This is definitely going down as one of the year’s better releases for sure and I’ll definitely add it to my ever growing AOTY list for 2019. Awesome job guys!
