They don’t make ’em like they used to. This saying, most often referring to cars, consumer electronics, or office chairs, rings true when discussing metal as well. Metal has in many ways changed. Its increasing popularity and marketability has led to many genres focusing on the more marketable aspects of their sound. Tech Death has certainly been affected by it. Originally a genre mostly for guitar nerds, a lot of mid to late 2000s Tech was fast paced, spastic and, for lack of a better word, exhausting. Albums were an arms race of dishing out what some might consider too many notes in too little time. Nowadays a lot of Tech Death has lost that aspect in what I suspect is a pursuit of greener (read: more profitable) pastures and a style of Tech that is basically a heightened form of Melodic Death Metal seems to be the norm. I say all of this without much judgement, as it can not really be said that the classic style of hyperactive Tech Death has been on average more successful. Neurectomy, while appearing more like a Slam act concerning image and name, make an attempt at reviving this classic style of Tech Death. As the album features John Longstedt of Origin on drums, this makes sense as Origin have made one of the few prime examples of the style in 2008’s Antithesis. In many ways, Neurectomy seem like a conscious effort to return to a style that even Origin have mostly abandoned at this point.
Origin are not the only influence for Neurectomy. On a level of technical approach, Neurectomy have similarities to the often maligned Brain Drill, albeit with tighter and more purposeful songwriting. Many tapping and sweeping patterns remind me of Brain Drill in positive ways and Neurectomy seem to be better at being Brain Drill than Brain Drill themselves. Even more importantly, it seems to me that Cephalic Carnage are a prime inspiration for Neurectomy’s sound. While not doing it as overtly as the Tech Grind masters, there is a level of self-irony to the tech sound of Neurectomy. There are many benefits to a Tech band that knows how ridiculous they are, but the main advantage is the awareness of how a hyper-charged sound such as this, pushed to the edge of human playability, is an exhausting and at times annoying affair. Cephalic Carnage always knew when to pull back the madness and flavor it with a little groove and while Neurectomy aren’t quite as good at it, they make more of an effort than most acts. In addition to that, the humor just adds an additional layer of creativity that bands who, be it for motivated by marketability or just self-image, have to take themselves seriously can’t quite match. Whenever riffs get a surprisingly funky attitude or there are hints of rock or country inflections in an otherwise brutalist soundscape, it helps break up the sound. Similarly, Neurectomy know how to play with time signatures and rhythm in general. The fact that they do so in a fluid and seamless manner proves that talent and thought went into the album. The choice in style comes with the usual pitfalls of the genre back then: Overwrought is, even at its comparably short length, a pretty exhausting album. As mentioned, the band tries to mitigate this but it’s clear that they feel the most comfortable in dishing out flurries of notes. Even then, the short length seems like a deliberate choice here, and the right one for that matter.
While I don’t think Neurectomy is as good as the best material from Cephalic Carnage or Origin, there remains a lot to be said about the solidification and commercialization of styles. Neurectomy are unsigned, despite how much work and effort clearly goes into an album like this. I understand that the average listener doesn’t want to be aurally attacked and that challenging music can feel like a chore. But I personally would be happier if more Tech was like this – and maybe if we got some more variety in our genres in general.
