From right here in Albuquerque comes Polyhedra, a melodic death-core band who released a self-titled EP in the beginning of March. The five-track album explores a plethora of sounds, testing the dichotomy between the ordered chaos of metal and the peacefulness of guitar ballads. Each song is a journey within itself, moving from fast paced blast beats and technical progressions, to slower melodic fills and hypnotic guitar riffs.
The album begins with the song “Infernus Machina," the instruments featured in the song progressively building throughout the intro. Clean guitar melts with the drums, moving into distortion before quickly transitioning into structured disorder by introducing the varying tones of screaming vocals. The guitar and drums are in sync with one another, no matter the change in tempo, a testament to the chemistry of the band.
“All American Snuff” continues the headbanging and chaos, allowing the listener no respite. Hidden within the middle of the song is a guitar ballad, slowing down the drums and letting the clean sound take center stage. There is another progressive build up from the ballad, foreshadowing the return of the machine-gun sounding drums and chugging of the heavily distorted guitar.
Third on the album is “Subconscious Dreamscape." No different than the previous two songs, “Subconscious Dreamscape” continues the experimental recipe of the fast and slow sequencing of the instruments. The beginning of the song gets right up in your face, a wall of sound crashing over the listener, carrying you along for the ride. Slowing down through the song, the main focus is on the drums as the guitar fades into the background.
“Devourer” begins with an ominously, distorted guitar creating the atmosphere for the drums and vocals to deliver the heaviness of the metal genre. The deconstructed first half of the song transitions into carpal tunnel syndrome guitar and earth splitting drums, the vocals keeping pace with quick delivery of lung depleting lines.
“Sentience” sits as the final chapter to the record. Soft guitar echoes in the background as the drums pound away, rapid succession of different fills spliced between distorted guitar before they become one again, progressing to the introduction of the vocals. The song slows down after a quick explosion, letting the listener fall into a false sense of security before the song picks up yet again. “Sentience” is the culmination of the previous songs, a soundscape of melodic guitar and perfectly timed drums that create a musical experience for the listener, the extreme vocals sliding in as the final piece of the puzzle.
Overall, Polyhedra offers an exciting sound for the local Albuquerque metal scene. It will be interesting to see what they accomplish when they release a full-length album.
The album can be found through their Bandcamp, where you can name your price.
Their next live show will be Apr. 15 at the Launchpad here in Albuquerque.
Cole Space is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted by email at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cole_space.
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