Volubilis – Theasterion
Release Date: 10th July 2026
Label: Self-Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Death Metal
FFO: Symbolik, Inferi, Equipoise, First Fragment, Demon King, Brainblast, Alienist, Vitrified Entity.
Review By: Aeons Burning
What would happen if you chucked Symbolik, Inferi, Equipoise, First Fragment, Demon King, Brainblast, Alienist, and Vitrified Entity into a blender? You’d get Volubilis. Theasterion, the debut release that took ten years, comes out on Friday and this extremely compact 32 minute scorcher is one of the best technical death metal releases of the year. And I don’t say this lightly, either. I’m very picky when it comes to this genre, as my favorite album of all time just so happens to be a tech death record. Composed entirely by one man, Miguel Marcheterre-Pina, and a host of guest musicians, Theasterion is a true master-class in how this genre should be written.
At an incredibly crisp 32 minutes, Theasterion wastes no time whatsoever and immediately begins with Le flamboiement stellaire, where the Symbolik influences are incredibly apparent. See, Symbolik is one of my favorite tech death bands and if a band is going to sound like them, it’s automatic points in my book. Volubilis also doesn’t forget that this genre can sound like a lot of fun, too, and the playful guitar writing in points coupled with classical guitar on Homo Cumulus shows the clear influence from First Fragment Miguel took. However, my favorite track is undoubtedly The Prism, which is the sole instrumental track on Theasterion, and is essentially just Miguel going absolutely insane and holding nothing back, even more so than the rest of this already bonkers-level album. Incredibly clever writing utilizing a contrapoint-heavy approach as well as epic, bombastic riffs deftly layered with light symphonics make up this track, and I could honestly listen to it all day. The biggest takeaway from Theasterion is the sheer quality over quantity approach that makes up this record – ten years is a long time to cook, and while I desperately hope we don’t have to wait another decade for album number two, it’s frankly ridiculous how good everything on Theasterion sounds.
I have two minor gripes with this, though. The first is the production because admittedly the mix is a little rough and those more tuned to nuances in production than I will likely find this extremely hard to listen to, but since it’s not unlistenably terrible, it could honestly be a lot worse to these ears. The second is simply that I want more of this. Theasterion is one of the most refreshing, fun, bombastic, and simply wonderful tech death albums I’ve heard in quite a long while, and I’m super glad that my sponge-shaped writer friend has been hollering at me to listen to this every chance he got. And now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to listen to this about five more times. Don’t miss this!
(4.5 / 5)
