Xenomorph- Empyreal Regimes Discography

Xenomorph is a technical death metal band from Nebraska. They formed back in 1990 and released a demo and one full-length within their five years together. Sadly there discography only consists of an hour of material, but with that being said the stuff they recorded was, and still is, amazing. Named after the creature from the Alien series and sporting that very same creature on the album cover Empyreal Regimes is proof that astounding metal gems can be found in the most unexpected places.

The tracks on Empyreal Regimes are longer winded than your average death metal track, easily breaking six minutes the majority of the time. Xenomorph has a decent amount of technicality going for them, at times resembling a more controlled version of Disincarnate. The song structures vary greatly on each track and it helps the album maintain an element of surprise throughout. The sheer amount of twists and turns they managed to fit in such a short amount of time is stunning. For example "Subspecies" is trotting along sounding like a typical death metal track and then about four minutes in all hell breaks loose in a chaotic display of awesome drum patterns and odd timing.

The vocalist sticks to one style for the most part. He barks out his wicked snarl and it simply fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the album. The drumming is fairly intricate just like everything else on the album. Sections similar to the previously mentioned moment on "Subspecies" are enough to leave the listener in awe. Switching up tempos very frequently there is no time to get bored with any aspect of this release.

Also featured on this disc is the bands 1993 demo titled Subspecies. It consists of three tracks featuring a younger and slightly less mature sounding Xenomorph. The production on these tracks is very raw as to be expected with a demo from that era. Even on these tracks there is an extreme sense of variety. It just doesn't go on as seamlessly as the material that was including on Empyreal Regime. Even with these minor flaws the band still sounds leaps and bounds better than many bands did in their demo era.

Overall Xenomorph's discography may only be made up of ten tracks, but this is ten tracks of some of the best death metal being churned out at that time. Easily rivaling many of the bands we consider "classic". Luckily their material is finally being made readily available and this chunk of Omaha made metal won't just fade into obscurity. Fans of old school and technical death metal will enjoy this due to the fact that it puts most of the competition to shame. It is one of the few albums that manages to maintain the old school sound while incorporating a great deal of technicality. It is a shame the band didn't release anything after their first full-length, they were certainly doing an amazing job mastering the style. Get it now.