Origin have long been considered leaders of the extreme technical death metal with their guitarist Paul Ryan, bassist Mike Flores and drummer John Longstreth all being highly respected for their abilities in the community. Their most recent release Unparalleled Universe was nothing less than an unbridled explosion of fury and led the band to tour with renowned acts such as Morbid Angel and a host of others. This new release marks a change from the norm with it being primarily made up of songs from the beginning of the band including 8 previously unreleased tracks from the band’s inception.
Included with the first 8 songs is also a remastered version of Origin’s 1998 EP Coming into Existence which was handled by Robert Rebeck who served as the original engineer for those sessions. You wouldn’t be able to tell the album was recorded then however as everything sounds pristine and like a well-oiled tech death machine.
What is apparent from the first few seconds is that this is an Origin record through and through. Whilst it might not have the same feel as some of the newer material, there is no mistaking the signature vocals and super speed riffing from Paul. On that topic, this record features performances solely from Paul and no other musicians. A highly impressive feat considering the complexity of a lot of the tracks.
Whilst in some ways this is technically not a new album in that nothing new has been written, it can still be considered new music given the unreleased tracks. Fundamentally, despite the tracks not having a similar style to more recent material and the first eight being entirely performed by Paul, everything that makes up an Origin record is still there and the songs still stand up in this day and age of gravity blasts and 300bpm sweep picking.
If you’re an Origin fan or a fan of tech death in general, it is worth giving this album a listen to experience a bit of tech death history and hear the “first ever recording death metal album with a gravity blast”.
Abiogenesis: A Coming Into Existence is released on May 3rd via Agonia Records
