Review: Cerebrum – Iridium

Greek technical death metallers Cerebrum count George Kolias as a former member, so you know they must have done something right. Their new record, ‘Iridium’, is full of nods to legends of the technical death genre but with lashings of old school flavour and great songwriting. It is out 21st December through Transcending Obscurity.

The chugging, bending riffs of ‘Time Reversal’ open this record with some tasty, early 90s Floridian death metal goodness. The tone is scratchy and rough, but the death metal is surprisingly complex for such an old school sound. You’re getting stuff like early Atheist, where flashes of bass led progression hints at more beneath the ravaging thrust of the old school. ‘A Face Unknown’ also has a lot of that kind of early Cynic riffing, and you can feel that ‘Iridium’ is becoming something special very early. That style of progressive death from the early 90s isn’t always as much of an inspiration as it should be, and Cerebrum pay a special homage to it during the likes of the spiralling soloing of closer ‘Escape to Bliss’.

That serpentine flow of complexity through an old fashioned lens makes ‘Iridium; stand out against both old school death metal and tech death records this year, by using elements of both superbly and yet never overdoing either. Cerebrum are brutal, complex and yet weirdly melodic, creating memorable songs that also contort expectations and minds. Take ‘Absorbed in Greed’ as the best example of an album that doesn’t disappoint at any turn.

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