Origin United States

"Origin belong to the same category of death metal bands as Suffocation - that is, bands whose music is heavily brutal, but at the same time very technical and quite demanding to both musician and listener. It is artists like Origin and similar acts that put the nail in the coffin of the myth that brutal death metal does not require skill and musicianship.

There is brutality galore on this release in the shape of lots of blastbeats and very fast double bass drum work, but contrary to the ideas that some people might get when they read this, the drumming is far from monotonous. While kept in the brutal and aggressive end of the gamut, John Longstreth makes use of several blastbeat techniques, combined with lots of different rhythmic structures and several fills, so this is by no means boring. Riffwise, the guitar work ranges from simple and brutal one-string tremolo riffage over complex and challenging guitar figures to really abstract and challenging stuff (while in the same category as Hate Eternal, I think that Origin's music is much less abstract and much more tangible, which I really appreciate). There are even a couple of groovy and thrashy riffs every now and then, which work really well. A lot of the guitar work incorporates eastern-sounding scales, which fit the brutal music very well.

Every track contains a plethora of riffs, and there are several changes as well, which means that there is a lot of dynamicity and excitement in store for the listener - but it also means that "Entity" can be a challenging listen to those who are not initiated into the world of extreme metal, and will require a couple of listens to click with some people (fortunately, it clicked with me immediately though).

The vocals are part growled and part scream-snarled (with some burpy, almost humorous-sounding things now and then), and, while not very innovative or original, the vocal style certainly suits the brutal music very well.

The musicianship on this album is very high, and "Entity" is characterized by a perfect equilibrium between brutality and technicality. It is simply a dark pearl of technical brutal death metal, and recommended to fans of the genre.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"