Band:	Allegaeon
Album:	Elements Of The Infinite
Style:	Melodic death metal, Technical death metal
Release date:	June 20, 2014
A review by:	Mattybu

01. Threshold Of Perception
02. Tyrants Of The Terrestrial Exodus
03. Dyson Sphere
04. The Phylogenesis Stretch
05. 1.618
06. Gravimetric Time Dilation
07. Our Cosmic Casket
08. Biomech II
09. Through Ages Of Ice - Otzi's Curse
10. Genocide For Praise - Vals For The Vitruvian Man

My first impressions of Allegaeon's new album, Elements Of The Infinite, were definitely strange. The album opens up an acoustic part, not all that strange in itself, but then morphs into this grandiose orchestral intro that sounds like the music to a God of War game with electric guitar arpeggios over it. Yikes...

There's one good thing an intro like that can do though - it can really create a nice build up to whatever is following. After that intro I was fully expecting Allegaeon's new album to explode in my face the way a Fleshgod Apocalypse album might after such an intro. Contrary to my expectations, it was more of a groove-oriented type of technical metal. The first couple of tracks just kind of plodded along. Everything about them was tight and well executed but they really didn't grab me.

Something else that should be noted, which is apparent right away listening to Elements Of The Infinite, is the musicians are really good. Not just good actually, crazy good. The problem is, while there is jaw-dropping talent on display, there isn't jaw-dropping songwriting on display. So, while sweep picked patterns and complex riffs are flying overhead, they can't exactly lift the songs out of the rut they sometimes get into on their own.

No piece of modern melodic technical metal is complete without a song about vacuum cleaners, and "Dyson Sphere" was where I thought this album turned it around a bit. The sense of melody mixed with sheer technical skill seemed to gel on this track and Allegaeon made it clear that when they were firing on all cylinders, they were quite a pleasure to listen to. The problem I have with this album is that they don't always step the songwriting up to such a high level, and the other elements aren't enough to keep it that interesting throughout. It has a very sterile dime-a-dozen production and the general sound of it isn't all that fresh or unique, so it was really up to the songwriting to carry it. At times it carried it well, but at others didn't.

Allegaeon's latest work is a very polished one. The skill of the musicians is very impressive, and the melodic flavor to some of the songs is, at times, among the tastiest you can find. The album features an excellent acoustic outro as well, which ties it all together nicely. This album should appeal to any fans of modern-sounding technical death metal or melodic death metal, but at times the songs can flatline and get a bit boring, despite everything that is going on in them.