Informis, Infinitas, Inhumanitas

Origin's specialty is the kind of inhumanly technical, high-speed death metal that causes listeners to sit back and say, "Wow, how on earth do they play that stuff?" There are few parts of this CD where the drums (which are heavily triggered and almost electronic sounding) are not going at full speed — either with some kind of blastbeat or double-bass drum part — and about half the time, they're doing so in some difficult, uneven time signature. Meanwhile, the two guitars are also playing complicated parts, interweaving and harmonizing with one another rather than merely playing the same riffs or splitting up into lead versus rhythm roles. But, as amazing as much of the playing is, some of the songwriting seems to suffer under the weight of all the technicality; that is, the music is impressive as you listen to it, but it is not all memorable once it stops playing. ("Insurrection" and "Perversion of Hate," which have some interesting, almost black metal-tinged guitar melodies, are a couple of exceptions.) One more thing to point out is that, while the album cover and title both suggest some sort of futuristic/sci-fi/outer-space aesthetic, that really isn't the case. The lyrics actually deal with fairly standard topics of human suffering (including a song about the 9/11 tragedy, "Perversion of Hate") and existential dread in general. In any case, this album is a fairly good example of technical death metal circa 2002, but it is still a little more "impressive" than it is strictly enjoyable from a pure musical standpoint.