Pyrrhon “An Excellent Servant But a Terrible Master” CD

From Selfmadegod Records comes "An Excellent Servant But a Terrible Master", the debut full-length from New York's Pyrrhon (which was originally self-released by the band). I'm not always a fan of this chaotically technical and challenging brand of death metal, but these guys seem to have both the chops and the creativity to pull it off in a convincing manner that's somehow tangibly listenable. The vocals alone contain bitter snarls, burly (almost shouted) growls, gang backups, and then some; while the songwriting is loaded with intense tremolo picking, crazy bends/dives/slides, totally warped harmonics, etc. And then they'll break into some jazzy percussion and fuzzy, freakout solos, or maybe slow things down for a killer run of churning dissonance with chunkier, more straightforward rhythms. I've only seen lyrics for two tracks, but those are quite strong, which I find to be an especially important factor when dealing with music this non-linear and potentially grating. And the production's pretty solid, too. The caustic elements of the guitars and vocals can tend to push forward a touch, so if there's a way to retain a hint more clarity for the rhythm section in the future that would be excellent. Don't get me wrong, for as busy and off-the-wall as this stuff is it sounds very good, but there's so much cool shit happening across the board that it seems like some of the nuances of the basslines and drumming might be getting lost. Believe me, there's far more at work within these compositions than what I've touched upon here, but I think you'll understand why I'm not exactly sure how to communicate what's going on. So check out a few tracks for yourself and see what you think: