US death metal outfit Artificial Brain have announced their fourth studio album Antillia, out November 13 via Profound Lore Records, and unleashed the first single “Quantum Malignancies.”
Founding member and bassist Samuel Smith explains the choice:
“I’m excited to be releasing ‘Quantum Malignancies’ first because I think this song is a good reflection of both the change and continuity in our sound on ‘Antillia’. The track opens with a mess of guttural vocal noise courtesy of Paulo Paguntalan, who has featured on all of our albums, and it contains a characteristically wistful arpeggiated section at its midpoint. Ian’s mix and the contributions of our new members, Mike and Alex, have imbued this material with a new sense of immediacy, though. The frantic energy of this song culminates in dueling guitar solos, which are another key part of this record’s distinct identity.”
Pre-order Antillia: Bandcamp
A New Base Of Operations
After operating as a six-person international collective, the band has settled in Richmond, Virginia, picking up vocalist Mike Paparo of Inter Arma and drummer Alex Tomlin of Battlemaster along the way. They join the founding core of guitarist Dan Gargiulo and Samuel Smith, plus guitarist Oleg Zalman. Recurring guest vocalist Paulo Paguntalan of Miasmatic Necrosis returns, and longtime ally Ian Jacyszyn of Aeviterne recorded and mixed the record.
Nine Tales Of Cosmic Woe
Antillia keeps the band’s core premise, sinuous futuristic black metal melody grafted onto a dense death metal skeleton, but pushes it with new urgency. It is their shortest and most aggressive album to date, blastbeat-laden and punctuated by riotous solos.
Its nine tracks repeatedly invoke images of invasion and penetration: diseases filtering down from the sky, pollutants corrupting water and soil, medical nanobots triggering cancerous plagues, alien subversives undermining governments. Despite the ferocity, the emotional core is melancholic, even wistful. The title track closes the record with an ode to a homeworld abandoned to the void: “Was it ever real? Was it ever real?”
Mastering comes from Colin Marston of Krallice and Gorguts, with artwork by Fleshflies.
Antillia Tracklist
- The Wandering Star Prion
- Quantum Malignancies
- Obsidian Agents
- Deciphering the Anachronistic Tongues of the Relic Satellites
- Planet Carrion
- Against the Furthest Reaches of the Light
- Cosmic Death Church
- Solar Ark
- Antillia (in Chromatic Aberration)
Artificial Brain
- Mike Paparo – vocals
- Dan Gargiulo – guitars
- Oleg Zalman – guitars
- Samuel Smith – bass
- Alex Tomlin – drums
