Afterbirth – In But Not Of

Experimental death metal from another planet, but still recorded live in an old-school studio. That’s what Afterbirth offer with In But Not Of, their third album. The stars seem well aligned for this New York unit, reinvented ten years ago after shy beginnings in 1993.

In In But Not Of, we appreciate the expression of the strong desire for experimentation that rages in the modern death metal scene, a musical subgenre where technical possibilities are constantly being pushed back. However, these are old hands behind the amplifiers and percussion. The musical language they’ve made their own comes from the mid-1990s, when the Suffocation, Internal Bleeding and Pyrexia of this world were defining what was to become brutal death metal. 

Played in palm muting, heavy, syncopated riffs abound. The same goes for the guttural vocals, unintelligible to the point of forgetting their human provenance. The drumming is highly diversified, angular and complex, but without joining the speed contest of the style’s new guard. There’s a verticality where guitar effects matched to arpeggiated melodies are superimposed on ferocious blast beats.

The tracks evolve to reveal a variety of musical densities and ideas, some of the textures are even more reminiscent of post-rock than death metal. There’s an undeniable progressive side to this album, whose composition is highly ambitious and not always aggressive, not without sometimes recalling the hushed sound of prog classics. Needless to say, a band in symbiosis enhances the experience of studio recording and subsequent listening.