Fractal Point
The Bizarre Machinery of Universe
7.5
Switzerland isn’t on my usual list of countries known for their metal, but if more bands like Fractal Point emerge, they very well may be in the future. The debut album of this five-piece act is a cosmic-themed, death metal jam, rife with thrashy riffs and high-speed melodies. Antoine’s vocals act as a counterbalance to the music, which is more technical and note-filled than it is brutal. He is gruff as hell, sounding somewhat like Corpsegrinder (Cannibal Corpse), and also like Muhammed Suicmez of Necrophagist, particularly in the way that the deep vocals weigh down the music. The guitarists Guilherme and Laurent play like a couple of buddies that have been jamming together for years. In fact, that happens quite often in their songs, long stretches of speedy instrumental interplay.
The Bizarre Machinery of Universe comes wrapped in what strikes me as a low-budget production, one that accomplishes a lot with a little. This quality gives it an older feel, particularly in Julien’s drums, which sound natural and un-triggered. Carlo’s bass-playing is probably as adept as the rest of the band, but it’s hard to discern much beyond a low-pitched pulsing.
“Parallel Worlds” is closer to a standard melodic death song than the rest of this album, where melodies reign, but they aren’t the upbeat melodies of Sweden or Finland. The twin solos accent the relativistic speed of the riffs. “The Dimensional Experiment” is an instrumental track that seeks to answer the question of how many notes can be played in three minutes. They actually remind me of a US band called Geomancer that none of you know of. These two songs are slight outliers, as most of the tracks, like “Celestial Corpse”, for instance, follow the same formula: thrash riffs, shred solos, dark leads, and sparse but brutish vocals.
Fractal Point loves to play fast, and they’ve found just the reviewer to appreciate them for it. While not a masterpiece by any stretch, The Bizarre Machinery of Universe is a very respectable debut album, and they are a band to keep an eye on.
