Australian tech death crew, Growth, belong in the Australasian family tree created by Ulcerate and Psycroptic. They also have a prog dimension that should elevate their music. So, why does album number two fail to excite?
The action in ‘Remember Me as Fire’ is fast as an Archspire guitar playthrough from the first note until it settles after twenty seconds into a groove. Luke Frizon delivers his words like a person in need of an exorcism. Listen how the bassist deviates from the main riffing to carve out his own sub-plot. We’re not even at two minutes, and it seems like they’ve used up a stockpile of munition parts that’ll be hard to replace. All instruments operate here at full velocity for the whole five minutes and forty seconds without descending into the speed of sound annihilation beloved of most death metal bands. Intense triplets come and go like creatures of the night. Words soar and leave little impact beyond acting as another percussive instrument in the mix.
‘Under the Under’ is far more interesting with its mystical Tool intro giving way to a dissonant blast of technical rhythms that place perfection above emotion. Nine minutes of this is like reading the indexes in the Financial Times under the influence of alcohol. You know it’s important and you should be knowledgeable about it, but the overload of information and cold indifference of the numbers leave you with a slumping posture. It’ll make more sense if you imagine the music to be a merger of Gorguts and the Dillinger Escape Plan, but there are many bands that do this already. The welcome change of vocals at six minutes to a baritone narrative hints at some possible avant-garde moments to savour in this mind-boggling music. Rivers of Nihil fans will appreciate the sombre voice harmonies leading the charge of the over-produced drums. Maybe this record is not as cold and as functional as it seemed after the opening track.
Your eyes will widen at track three (see ‘Slings that Shatter’) when the looping post-rock guitar shapes and melodious vocals connect in anguish. This is not your standard tech death indulgence that leaves no thought for the listener. Of course, they transition to a state of virtuoso brutality few bands could emulate, and it’s easier to like when there’s variation. Growth understand that hiding behind relentless blast beats and grunting vocals is unambitious. Their ambitions are evident in how many non-repeating parts they can fit into compositions dominated by syncopated guitar rhythms. Unfortunately, the deliberate use of aching intervals rooted in an unmusical sense of vertigo defines the Growth sound, which means most human minds will reject it and switch off. It’s hard to stay focused when you know a million shredded notes will pass through your ears in each song. Picking the riffs out of ‘Pain is Never Far Away’ is like foraging for undamaged grapes in the aftermath of a devastating bush fire. Most of the guitar formations resemble the noise of chair legs scraping against a tiled floor.
Astounding musicianship can only get you so far as shown by ‘Forward, Further, Spirit Killer’, which excels in the technical stakes and fails in the emotional stakes. Imagine watching a blacksmith at work. It’s interesting for the first two minutes, and then you wonder why you’re in awe of something so tedious. Most of this song sounds like the control room of a capsizing ferry. You’ll know the feeling if you’ve sat through the last two Ulcerate albums and tried in earnest to understand why people are so fascinated by their music.
The prospect of another nine-minute puzzle to end the LP does nothing to raise the excitement levels. ‘Death Cannot Hold Me’ fires through more munitions than the recent Israeli bombardment of Tehran. Surely, it’s time for extreme metal to look beyond the dissonant chords in search of something more thrilling. Chaos should not deliver its coup de grâce through the paralysis of boredom, but that’s what happens here.
Kirk Houghton
Verdict
Release Date: 27/03/2026
Record Label: Wild Thing Records
Standout tracks: Under the Under; Slings that Shatter
Suggested Further Listening: Ne Obliviscaris – Citadel (2014), Tool – 10,000 Days (2006), The Zenith Passage – Datalysium (2023)