Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat – I am 100% out of my death metal phase. I am out of my technical death metal phase even more. And yet, I have been eager to hear a new Augury album for quite some time. I guess it goes to show that just like that kid who used to dye his hair black and fold half of it down across his face and still has his lip piercing ten years later, a tiny part of every phase stays with you. That and the fact that Augury’s previous album Concealed is one of the best death metal albums since the millennium.
After the first listen through Fragmentary Evidence, it is hard to comprehend what has just happened. And thus, it is easy to exude a big giant “meh”. This is due in large part to the band’s tendency to incorporate a lot of other elements and passages into their music which frankly, feel and sound odd at first. However, that second time through is a lot different. You come to expect those strange sections. You eagerly await the introduction of “Jupiter to Ignite”. And it is then that you realize that Augury have created the first worthwhile death metal album of the year…because it is not entirely death metal. Sounds weird, but remember, I’m 100% out of my phase.
Even though Fragmentary Evidence will undoubtedly be the death metal album of the year, there is one main downfall – the production. While everything usually sounds good – and most importantly, you can hear Dominic Lapointe‘s superb bass playing perfectly – there are times where there is so much going on that it sounds like a wall of noise and it is hard to hear the ‘little things’.
Other than the questionable production and Patrick Loisel‘s occasional power metal vocal phrasing, Fragmentary Evidence is as close to a perfect death metal album as you’re going to get. And this is coming from somebody who is 100% out of their death metal phase, and out of their technical death metal phase even more.
(8.5/10)
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