Engram Of Decline is the exciting debut album from French progressive death metallers Fractal Universe and it’s a gripping piece that really makes for some wonderful listening.
The album as a whole is a varied listen, with Fractal Universe taking several different approaches and utilising different styles in order to craft an album that will grab your attention. There’s heavy in-your-face death, some techier complex parts, a slight sprinkling of doom on occasion, slower gentler sections, and even a saxophone solo (courtesy of Shining’s Jørgen Munkeby) in their track Backworldsmen!
Indeed, the aforementioned song is one of the strongest tracks of the album. One of the more avant garde tracks of the album, it takes many twists and turns over its five-minute duration, featuring acoustic guitars, chugging riffs, spine-tingling half-whispered, half-snarled vocals, a nice techy guitar solo and of course – the wonderful saxophone solo, which definitely adds an extra punch to an already-stunning song. It’s not necessarily something you may expect to hear in progressive death metal but damn, does it work!
In short, Engram Of Decline is just excellent. There’s plenty of stuff to cater for people of all tastes, and it’s a seriously kickass listen. Check this band out!
9/10
