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Origin: Entity
21/07/11 || The Duff
I was pretty pissed the first time I heard this here Origin’s latest; I wasn’t overly keen on their 2008 effort “Antithesis”, Jeremy Turner’s tracks some of the dullest material I’d heard and far surpassed by Paul Ryan’s credits to the album. To say the follow-up “Entity” was bad would be unjust but to find the band playing close to exact rip-offs off “Antithesis” was not something I was prepared for despite the slightest of evolutionary bounds from album to album past. I initially failed to support it even if the record was more comprising of Ryan’s strengths as a speed-picker in the Nile-vein mixed with tight chug riffs and far less of Turner’s unsubtlest death metal fare (this would make sense since Turner is no longer in the band it would seem).
This was very contradictory to recent thoughts of “Sure could use some “Antithesis”-style Origin right-about now”, the likeness to past material was as if the band were rendering itself redundant even if Origin sound like no one but themselves. So, first impression was if you don’t like “Antithesis”, an album noticeably different to the now heralded classic records “Infinitas” and “Echoes of Decimation”, then more of the same would be a waste of money but that even appreciators of said record might find this entirely unjustified it being so akin.
Then something clicked, and in short, I’m finding they’ve taken the same formula but improved on the album’s structuring with the aid of four to five short cuts in the “Echoes” style (plus one atmospheric instrumental not entirely necessary) and mixed it in with lengthier compositions as witnessed on the last record (and if I’m cheeky in homage to my Paul Ryan interview, a couple of regular-spaced tracks as with “Infinitas”, so a mixture of the last three flololo).
The musicianship is remarkable as ever; John Longstreth sounds like he plays so well simply as a hobby, and of course Paul Ryan’s speed is unparalleled – his picking, and sweeps especially, is simply inhuman (although once more we’re treated to a heartless lead on “Consequence of Solution”) – check the very end of “Swarm” or the beginning of “Consequence of Solution” for fine examples, what appears a boon to exclusively playing the most extreme death metal all your career.
The sweeps I once considered placed with little finesse, and in many ways I still do, but I’ve come to accept them as a component to the Origin regular brew of death metal unremittance; nothing the band has ever done with sweeps will match “Portal” or “Perversion of Hate”, but you can tell attempts to switch it up some have been made. The rest of the songwriting is as you’ve come to expect, there are very few riffs that surprise and I don’t mean such in the most flattering of manners.
The two cuts that suggest an evolution are “Committed”, which is hit-and-miss Cephalic Carnage worship, and “Banishing Illusion” which is more Cephalic Carnage worship with a touch of Exodus in places (and one killer, swirling introduction); both tracks make the second half of “Entity” the weaker despite two strong closers, but thankfully they are the briefest on the album.
Final to note is that despite occasional Demilich-style (I’m assuming we’ve all only heard “Nespithe”) death metal vocals, ex-Skinless vocalist Jason Keyser sounds exactly like ex-Origin vocalist James Lee, and the production on this new one is improved where the guitars sound warmer, more clear and the drums still have that killer accentuated snare-sound.
In the end, a good effort but of little worth unless you want literally the exact same thing over. No, not literally “literally”.
- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Nuclear Blast Records
- Website: Origin MySpace
- Band
- Paul Ryan: guitars, vocals
- Mike Flores: bass, vocals
- John Longstreth: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Expulsion of Fury
- 02. Purgatory
- 03. Conceiving Death
- 04. Swarm
- 05. Saligia
- 06. The Descent
- 07. Fornever
- 08. Committed
- 09. Banishing Illusion
- 10. Consequence of Solution
- 11. Evolution of Extinction
