Album Review: Allegaeon - The Ossuary Lens
Reviewed by Eric Clifford
In case it had escaped your notice, natural justice is something of a nonentity these days, if ever it was anything else. You can gauge this by simple observation: Allegaeon, an outlandishly talented clutch of Americans going strong now since 2010, do not headline only the most capacious of arenas, nor are they capable of purchasing and possibly weaponising continents entire by virtue of the incalculable remuneration their gifts have brought to fruition. They sit alongside bands like Revocation or Autonoesis, bands of similarly awe-inspiring ability that by rights should be renown the world over. Alas, we do not live in such a world. But if we can be dragged there inch by inch by the stellar output of these bands, then Allegaeon can proudly be said to have done their bit, for their new album – “The Ossuary Lens” – is fucking phenomenal.
It’s a product of multiple factors, but the quick way of phrasing it would be that there is a sultan’s ransom of differing motifs and elements from across the genre and beyond, and Allegaeon nail them all. Their grasp on melody shines through on tracks like “dies Irae”, it’s solemn tones like the inauspicious creak of the gallows stair under the executioner’s tread. “Carried by Delusion” similarly boasts gorgeous lead lines; Allegaeon’s mastery of technicality allows them to be amazingly complex but never overwhelmingly so – they intersperse visceral gallops and chugs with blur-fingered runs all over their fretboards, often within the same riff, to craft these kinetic yet labyrinthine riffs that virtually enforce face-reconfiguring gurning while tickling the brainstem too. Their knack for injecting aspects of other genres into their work demands commendation too – “Dark Matter Dynamics” swings low with this bone-dry funk groove to it that shakes and jives throughout it’s length with almost impossibly catchy sway; Flamenco bursts dramatically out the speakers elsewhere.
By turns this tracklist is epic, as on the absolute jaw-dropper that is “Scythe”, stirring blackened lead lines colliding with nasty syncopation that could see your bones ground to power at close proximities. It’s tunefulness washes over you, drawing you in like the retreating tide as needle-precise tech death riffs spear you. The grooves are fierce, pitiless creations wrought of inventive percussion and inner-core deep chugging. By turns it simply crushes, the nods to slam death on “The Swarm” worthy of particular note. I could go on and on and on, forever rinsing this thing’s balls in ever more effusive verbiage, but the key point being made is just this: Allegaeon are penning unbelievably good music here. Which is what makes it’s primary Achilles heel all the more tragic.
My sole critique is reserved for the production. The effect is of a besmirched masterwork, genius in evidence everywhere the eye lands but smashed and cramped by the lack of space afforded it by an unforgiving production. It’s loud, objectionably so, the peaks and valleys of the album’s natural flow sanded smooth, its ebbs and flows, its push and pull, all rendered into a blunt cliff face of volume. “Brickwalled” is, I think, the phrase for it, and it’s criminal to hear music this good abused by a production that is not on point. I’m not blind to the irony; I’m a grindcore and brutal death metal fanatic, my standards for what is to be considered acceptable production vacated the premises some time ago, but... there are degrees with these things. Allegaeon’s music is ferocious, yes, but also fragile. It doesn’t take much to cripple the nuance to it, and there is perhaps no surer way to do that than by turning the volume all the way up and ripping the fucking knob clean off.
There was no point at which the production stopped bothering me, more so given the Atlas-like strength of the actual songs contained within “The Ossuary Lens”. But you shouldn’t let that stop you indulging. The production tarnishes it, yes, but that’s a case of taking an album from “superlative” to “really, really fucking good”. It can blast, it can grind, it can induce claw fingered skyward-bound singalongs, as it does on “Wake Circling Above” with malicious black metal dovetailing with sublime grace into skittering modern-day Decapitated riffs and a perfectly anthemic solo that splits it’s time between emotional weight and warpspeed shredcraft.
At three quarters of an hour, the album is hardly short but even at that it feels so very brief, the time I spent with it flying by. Given a stronger production that allowed the material the room it needs to effectively build and crescendo, “The Ossuary Lens” would be a surefire contender for my top five at year end; it may well yet make the mark – time will tell. But what I can tell you now is that if you were already a fan of Allegaeon – and you should be – then this release is as emphatic a reaffirmation of the reasons why as could ever be asked. If you are not a fan of Allegaeon, then I beg of you, take the plunge. Pick this up and while you’re at it grab their back catalogue and nestle it close to your heart where it belongs. I’ve a weakness for hyperbole, fine, but nonetheless Allegaeon are firing on all guns here and you should absolutely avail yourself of their charms.
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