Tegmentum – Evolvement
Release Date: 25th August 2023
Label: M-Theory Audio
Bandcamp
Genre: Prog Metal, Djent, Deathcore, Death Metal.
FFO: Rivers of Nihil, Decapitated, Born of Osiris.
Review By: Metal Miguel
Sometimes when new material lands on my desk, or maybe all the time, I just stick it on and listen – I don’t read the press release as that will sway my opinion if I read about whom they are influenced by, sound like, or inspired by. This is only irrelevant if I know who the band is, but with new music, I go in blind and form my opinions based on what I hear rather than what might have come before it.
I gave this band a listen to multiple times, and the album seemed to finish every time without leaving any kind of mark on me. I was hoping for a riff, a vocal line, something that would make me realise I had taken on board what the album was pushing at me, but it didn’t. The second track explodes into action which is needed after the rather slow and uneventful starter track, which is called ‘Innocuous’ which is ironic as it is just that; harmless. I’m just a fan of metal albums that start with a bang and while this does have a bang, it’s just a little delayed with a metric ton of prog-style sounds and guitars which seem to have the sense of ending something and not starting.
Anyway, by this point of multiple listens I decided I should look at the press kit and see what all the chit-chat is about, and it seems like they are trying to splice ‘progressive metal styles with more extreme elements typically found in technical death metal bands’ but are labelling themselves as a ‘cosmic progressive metal project’ which I’m not overly sure if I know what that is or if I’ve just reached that age now where movements are lost on me or that the new gen can just call something whatever they like in the hope of creating something new and valid and slightly based on the platform that came before it.
I’ve never heard of them and if their Bandcamp is anything to go by they have been putting things out since 2012, but it never rang a bell and neither did any of the names nor previous bands, so it’s been a completely new journey of discovery. So, what did I discover? A couple of things. Yes, they have a progressive tone and yes death metal and djent are present and are clearly defining features of the song and riff writing. I found them very bland and no overzealous head-nodding was present in the multiple listening attempts, but I was aware when the album finished though, as the last track finishes on some sort of fading drone sound that seems a little out of place and unsettling. I also found out that the vocalist is a woman, who knew, would never have guessed in a million years, so I’m not sure what that says – she has a set of pipes to compete with the dudes or that the vocal style is so generic you can’t tell. They are also trying really hard to sell this cosmic shit – if you weren’t already aware, the TEGMENTUM is the ventral part of the midbrain which is responsible for many actions including cardiorespiratory functions and airway-protective reflexes (e.g., cough, sneeze, gag) and when you tie this together with the band statement that this album is “an allegory for self-discovery that boldly explores an emotional spectrum of euphoric highs and very deep lows”…sounds like there has been a wee touch of over-thinking; and don’t get me started on the title of the album, Evolvement, which is just a bastardisation of the English language and with a huge sense of irony due to the derived American form of the word now, but it’s just all lost in translation I’m afraid, from the music straight down through the genre, inspiration and execution.
(2 / 5)
