There must be something in the water in Belarus that is turning a new generation of youth into amazing metal musicians. That whole region of the world is killing it this year, but I think this is the second solid group out of that actual country to have a stellar release in the past two months. Taking the showmanship of technical death metal and presenting it within the aesthetic of melodic and symphonic death, Irreversible Mechanism kicks down the door and pummels the listener to the ground with a sense of class.
The obvious draw for any tech death album are the guitars and drums. Infinite Fields does not disappoint in this department. Pounding double bass and changing time signatures are the norm. Meanwhile, the guitar displays the expected amount of noodling, shredding, and soloing on par with their peers. The difference is that the riffing never sacrifices strong hooks for pure showmanship. Whereas many other tech death acts bore me to tears with masturbatory, a-melodic dick waving; Irreversible Mechanism suck in the listener with a catchiness not unlike Mors Principium Est or Serenity in Murder's most recent albums.
Related to this, and permeating the mix, are the ever-present synthesizers. These cybernetic-sounding additions bring a new level of atmosphere to the album illustrated in the cover art. While the compositions aren't earth-shatteringly innovative; the way that they fuse with the already frenetic, machine-like attack of the other instruments and death vocals is impressive. I was moving with this album from start to finish: banging my head to a strong beat or swaying to a dizzying scale run.
Final word: best tech death album I have heard in a while aside from the post-metal fusions of Ulcerate. More importantly, this is one of a very select few death metal albums that have impressed me in the first quarter of 2015 period. In a year that has been dominated by various flavors of black metal, Irreversible Mechanism are hear to prove that death metal is still relevant to extreme music. Check the album out in full on their bandcamp and pick it up as a name-your-price. Just don't be a mooch. It is every bit worth a few measly dollars.