Hey there, tech fiends. It's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's focus, here's the usual weekly reminder that if you're looking for even more sick bands to hear, all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
Unhinged tech-death informed by mathcore and grindcore has a strong tradition in the strange deep-end of modern death metal going on for many years at this point, for grind infused takes, it's a deeper tradition led by Cephalic Carnage and others. For the mathcore infused split ends of tech-death, it's a newer phenomenon, yet to me, anytime a group finds a way to make technical death metal their own in a satisfying way, I'm usually intrigued at a minimum. Especially since things within this realm still encompasses such a narrow slice of the tech-death field that each of them are unicorns in essence, rare and fucking odd to the core.
With that being said, Tryptamyne from Los Angeles really goes for broke when it comes to taking this unorthodox fusion of opposites further into the future with their recent 2019 4-song self-titled EP. Owing as much to Psyopus and Cephalic Carnage as it does Lykathea Aflame, Death, and Cynic, this is a band on to something incredibly odd yet brilliant. Controlled chaos with an over-arching awareness of how to maneuver across multiple genres in a way that never feels forced or awkward. Even within groups combining these many different sonic strands, I rarely hear it combined and made into a mold like this that actually feels like it makes purposeful carefully designed "sense" while not really making sense to most casual listeners at the same time.
More importantly, Tryptamyne accents their primary deranged approach with multiple elements you won’t often find in this style which reminds me of Number 12 or Protest The Hero quite a bit. By that, I mean, the proggy Cynic and Death flair, male and female clean singing, mechanical killer grooves, and more, gives this self-titled effort a split ethereal focus most bands centered on chaos don’t dip their toes into. Nor do the ones I’ve heard overall, make it fit well, so, as a big fan of this sort of oddball take on tech-death, it’s quite evident how ambitious and killer of a group Tryptamyne is.
At a bit under fifteen minutes spread across four songs, the first two being under the two-minute mark, and the last two over or just under five minute mark, the group is able to show their advanced abilities to create fantastic and unique material on both the shorter and longer end of the spectrum all the same within a brief run-time. Those not as into genre-hopping chaos may not appreciate what Tryptamyne is going for, but, I’d urge everyone to give this as a shot as their equally important progressive metal and progressive death metal centered elements play a huge role in helping the band create music uniquely their own. Bands this chaotic and genre-hopping within tech-death are rarely as equally focused on beautiful ethereal ideas, and, that’s the crux of what makes Tryptamyne – Tryptamyne so special to me.
I’d urge everyone to give Tryptamyne – Tryptamyne I’ve embedded below a few spins. Especially since it takes a couple of spins at a minimum to absorb and dissect what the fuck is going on here. If you’re into what you’re hearing, you can order it through the Vargheist Records Bandcamp Page. You can follow the band over on the Tryptamyne Facebook Page.
