Artificial Brain – Antillia
Release Date: 13th November 2026
Label: Profound Lore Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Death Metal
FFO: Gorguts, Diskord, Ulcerate, Replicant, Pyrrhon, Chthe’ilist, Inter Arma, Afterbirth.
Review By: Aeons Burning
When people think of the most important bands in technical death metal, it’s usually legends like Necrophagist, Spawn of Possession, Obscura, and Cryptopsy. However, and while I consider those bands to be ridiculously influential, I feel that purely writing fast and extensively shred-focused technical death metal isn’t nearly as important as the weirder side of the subgenre. Bands like Gorguts, Ad Nauseam, (earlier) Ulcerate, and Pyrrhon, for example, all challenge exactly what this amazing subgenre can be, and straddling the border of accessibility and weird dissonance is one of the most important modern technical death metal bands out there – Artificial Brain. Their 2022 self-titled was yet another feather in their cap, and with that came the unfortunate news that their original and most well-known vocalist Will Smith (Afterbirth, Adharcáil, Reeking Aura, other bands) was leaving. Smith has such a distinctive growl, and the prospect of Artificial Brain being fundamentally different was a real possibility, and it wasn’t an appealing one.
Until, of course, it was announced that Mike Paparo (Inter Arma, Dreamless Veil, others) would be the new lead vocalist. Being a massive fan of Inter Arma, I was rather curious to see how this would turn out, and I deliberately avoided any live videos released between then and now to give myself a completely fresh experience. And when lead single Quantum Malignancies released, I knew that Antillia would be a truly special record. Paparo sounds absolutely incredible all throughout Antillia, and he’s only helped by the fact he’s surrounded by some of the most fluid musicians to come out of New York. Antillia as a record is such a cohesive, near-flawless piece, and the big reason for that is just how easy everyone meshes together. Gargiulo and Zalman are still masters of the riff, and there’s even some guest musicians from the New York scene – most prominently Doug Moore (Pyrrhon) on the first track, The Wandering Star Prion, and he makes a filthy duo with Paparo. The first time I listened to Antillia it put me in a constant state of awe at just how these guys can continue to effortlessly write incredible music as if it’s what they bleed.
It’s quite literally impossible for me to pick a favorite track on Antillia, as the joyful feeling of “no, wait, THAT’S my favorite track” just keeps on appearing even now at seven listens in, and how every time I listen I keep picking up on little intricacies, such as the Yellow Eyes/Krallice-ian riff at the beginning of Solar Ark, or the mid-album highlight Planet: Carrion with its much more menacing heft. Solos are few and far between, but the lead sections on Deciphering the Anachronistic Tongues of the Relic Satellites are neat little bursts of virtuosity. Of course, Artificial Brain have employed the services of legendary audio engineer Colin Marston again, and he once more shows just why fans of weirder metal love him so much – everything sounds absolutely phenomenal as ever.
Antillia is a late-year gem. Artificial Brain have nothing to prove at this point, not like they ever had, but the fact that such a major transition like the vocals being handled by someone else is pulled off so effortlessly while so many other bands have crashed into the dirt when they attempted the same thing, is the hallmark of true legends. You would be extremely foolish to just write off Artificial Brain as “more dissodeath I can avoid” when in reality this is one of the most forward-thinking bands in metal as a whole, and I cannot wait to see what these mad scientists conjure up next. I can’t recommend this album enough to the casual fan who seeks something different, as any existing fan of Artificial Brain is going to go absolutely nuts over Antillia.
(4.5 / 5)
