By Adam
Cortexiphan is an internet band of tremendous proportions fronted by the ever popular Andrew Patterson, who is a very good friend of mine, on vocals. I have been waiting to give this release a listen since Andrew told me the band had started to record.
Now I am not going to sit here and lie to you guys. I am not very well versed in the technical death metal genre. I can only name a handful of bands. That being said, Cortexiphan took whatever preconceived notions about the genre I had and flipped it on its head.
Right from the very first track, The Big Sleep, this band caught my attention. The track, which starts off acoustic, is very reminiscent (to me at least) of a Between the Buried and me song. That is a very high compliment. There is so much going on in this music that multiple play-throughs will reveal something interesting to pick out each time. One of my favorite things about this band is the presence of the bassist. You don’t hear many bands, especially under the umbrella of death metal, with a prominent bass player. Listening to Cortexiphan, you can hear the bassist thumping away at a furious pace throughout each song. This guy is a mad man on his instrument and absolutely shreds the bass.
Speaking of shredding, let’s talk about the guitar work for a minute here. This has to be one of the most interesting aspects of the band, even more so when you realize one guy wrote both guitar parts. Very rarely will you hear both guitar parts play the same thing. You won’t hear much in the way of harmonious riffing. Instead, both guitar parts successfully function as two “lead guitarists,” both playing equally complicated yet different riffs at the same time. It sounds pretty hectic at times, and I fucking love that, but the parts for both are very intelligently written and meld together to form one big, brutal, cohesive, ripping riff. It is a very interesting phenomena to listen to. In fact, the guitar parts play into each other so well and are so well written that sometimes it is easy to forget that these two guys are playing completely different parts. It’s a beautiful, controlled chaos that works out insanely well in the bands favor.
If you haven’t heard Andrew Patterson’s vocal abilities yet, either from his tutorial “how to” videos or his prolific portfolio of covers he has done, then you must not be paying any attention. This guy loves what he does and has damn near mastered his craft. Andrew sticks out in a sea of unimaginative vocalists that fill this genre. The man’s got some serious range and he uses it to his full extent. His thundering lows have the perfect tinge of “pissed off” that I love and his high screams can shatter glass. Lyrically, Andrew knows what he is doing as well. My favorite lyrics come from the fourth track on the release, Man Made Plague, a prophetic, brutal song that centers around the fall of the earth at the hands of the human race. My favorite verse: “The wind is blown by the panting of our creator, the artist of another kind known as the circle of life. We evolve, birth into the rationalist state of mind, we lose all faith in the natural surroundings now denied.”
Much like most bands that fall in the tech death genre, the drums are an absolute treat to listen to. Like a good amount of internet projects, the drums are programmed to save time to search for a talented enough and willing drummer. The drums for Cortexiphan are fast, clean, and insanely tight. Every groove played, every fill, and every blast beat is placed perfectly and it is easy for the listener to forget that they are listening to programmed drums.
Cortexiphan, while being an internet project AND a fresh band, sound like they have been playing together for years. They are a cohesive unit that knows exactly what they want to play and execute pretty damn perfectly. The insanity of both guitar parts and the bass player doing their own leads all somehow seem to mesh together to make some beautiful melodies and the drums and vocals make sure that the ferocity is not forgotten in the midst of all the melody. I am actually surprised none of these guys’ instruments lit on fire while recording this release, and even more surprised to find out this band consists of only THREE PEOPLE. If you are a fan of tech death, look no further.
BOTTOM LINE: If you were to tell me that Cortexiphan is an internet band that just formed (and I didn’t know any better), I wouldn’t believe you. Everything about this band is done so well and is incredibly polished. The whole entire release is fun as hell to listen to and will keep you tapping your foot and head banging throughout the whole thing. It is hard to NOT listen to this all at once.
STANDOUT TRACK: The opener of the album, The Big Sleep, has to be my favorite track on this. It is so reminiscent of Between the Buried and Me, yet it has a heavier edge to it. It is heavy, it is melodic as fuck, it’s catchy, it has many different elements in it, and most importantly, its just a flat out interesting song to listen to.
Worldwide Underground 