Photo by Dan Wagner
US Death Metal outfit ARTIFICIAL BRAIN has officially announced its fourth studio album, entitled “Antillia”, which is set for worldwide release on November 13 via Profound Lore Records. To mark the announcement, the band has unleashed the fierce first track, “Quantum Malignancies”, as the debut single. Listen here:
Stream the single HERE
Founding member and bassist Samuel Smith comments: “I’m excited to be releasing ‘Quantum Malignancies’ first because I think this song is a good reflection of both the change and continuity in our sound on ‘Antillia’. The track opens with a mess of guttural vocal noise courtesy of Paulo Paguntalan, who has featured on all of our albums, and it contains a characteristically wistful arpeggiated section at its midpoint. Ian’s mix and the contributions of our new members, Mike and Alex, have imbued this material with a new sense of immediacy, though. The frantic energy of this song culminates in dueling guitar solos, which are another key part of this record’s distinct identity.“
Tracklist:
1. The Wandering Star Prion
2. Quantum Malignancies
3. Obsidian Agents
4. Deciphering the Anachronistic Tongues of the Relic Satellites
5. Planet Carrion
6. Against the Furthest Reaches of the Light
7. Cosmic Death Church
8. Solar Ark
9. Antillia (in Chromatic Aberration)
Space and time transform their passengers; all boundaries are permeable. ARTIFICIAL BRAIN wrestles at length with this reality on “Antillia”. It’s nine tales of cosmic woe repeatedly invoking images of invasion and penetration: strange diseases filter down from the sky; pollutants corrupt the water and soil; medical nanobots trigger cancerous plagues; alien subversives undermine terrestrial governments. Again and again, humans are defiled and transformed as they struggle to navigate the sea of stars.
ARTIFICIAL BRAIN itself has been similarly transmuted by their local environment. After a period of operation as a six-person international collective, the band has established a new base of operations in Richmond, Virginia. In doing so, they have absorbed some local contaminants of their own in the form of vocalist Mike Paparo (Inter Arma) and drummer Alex Tomlin (Battlemaster). Rounding out the lineup for the new era of the band are the founding-member core of guitarist Dan Gargiulo and bassist Samuel Smith along with most-recent guitarist Oleg Zalman. Other satellites in the band’s orbit remain familiar, like recurring guest vocalist Paulo Pangutalan (Miasmatic Necrosis) and longtime ally Ian Jacyszyn (Aeviterne), who delivered Antillia’s mix – a marvel of gritty, lived-in detail, as impeccably designed as the bridge of the space freighter Nostromo in Ridley Scott’s Alien.
The core premise of ARTIFICIAL BRAIN’s music remains consistent, too: a grafting of sinuous, futuristic black metal melody onto a dense and imposing death metal skeleton. Antillia brings a new degree of urgency to this distinctive formula. It is their shortest and most aggressive album to date; its blastbeat-laden cacophony is by turns punctuated by riotous solos and shrouded by a nimbus of hazy textures.
Despite its ferocious clamor, Antillia’s primary emotional affect is melancholic, even wistful. A sense of loss and surrender permeates the record, most strikingly articulated by its title track’s ode to a homeworld irretrievably abandoned to the void: “Was it ever real? Was it ever real?” For Artificial Brain, the future has ceased to serve as a repository for optimistic dreams. It is here, now, in all its horror, visiting itself upon our bodies and minds, whether we like it or not.
“Antillia” was recorded/mixed by Ian Jacyszyn (Miasmatic Necrosis, Aeviterne) and mastered by Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts. Defeated Sanity etc.). Artwork by Fleshflies.
The album will be out November 13 on Profound Lore Records and is available for pre-order HERE.
ARTIFICIAL BRAIN are:
Mike Paparo - Vocals
Dan Gargiulo - Guitars
Oleg Zalman - Guitars
Samuel Smith - Bass
Alex Tomlin - Drums
For more info visit:
https://www.facebook.com/ArtificialBrainMusic/
https://www.instagram.com/artificial_brain_band/
https://artificialbrain.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords/
Is it just me or does that artwork feel AI’ish?