Rings of Saturn - Embryonic Anomaly (2010)

This post is dedicated to fellow blogger Decapitated Saint. Know this: I refuse to be bullied by you any longer. For too long have you ignored by cries and pleas. In spite of all my protest, you keep writing about deathcore bands mere moments after I decide to, thus stealing my limelight and making me appear like a slowpoke. Well no longer! Consider this post a full-blown retaliation. I'm going all Jennifer Lopez in that movie where she gets revenge on her abusive ex-husband on your ass, boy!

Feel my wrath.

SO, Rings of Saturn is a band from California whose music is an insane, psychedelic blend of technical death metal and experimental deathcore. Embryonic Anomaly is their debut album and it was launched in 2010. As you may infer from their name, they mostly sing about FUCKING SPACE. Particularly, alien invasions. Have a peek at these lyrics from the song Corpses Thrown Across the Sky:

Slowly weakening the insides, paralysis leaves them on their knees, ontheir knees, begging for their lives, on their knees, begging fortheir fucking lives,Humans sliced apart, carnage fills the streets,dismantling what is left of humankind, beheaded, corpses thrownacross the sky, discarded, chaos and darkness engulfing earth, bodiesand loose limbs flowing through the blood red rivers  

Hmmm, all this senseless carnage of the human race reminds me of something: GIGANTIC BRAIN. Turns out, the similarities don't end with the subject matter. Like Gigantic Brain, Rings of Saturn also rely on an apocalyptic blizzard of insane drumming and hellish vocals to propel their music. The dual vocal attack (low growls and high-pitched shrieks) does a great job of conveying a sense of terror and despair, which is what you should be feeling when you're getting torn apart by alien death machines. The song structures are varied and interesting and - warning ahead - there are plenty of breakdowns to be had on Embryonic Anomaly, which I guess is where the deathcore tag comes from. Unlike Gigantic Brain, who used simplistic chugging guitar riffing in his genocidal hymns, the two guitarists in Rings of Saturn manage to successfully blend together crushing brutal death metal with nintendocore noodling, which can feel weird and out of place at the beginning, but it totally makes sense later on, after you've accustomed yourself to the feel of the music. 

All the cool kids have undoubtedly become intimately familiar with this promising band by now, though, so I guess I still am a slowpoke. Damn all! However, if you have not yet heard Embryonic Anomaly, I highly suggest you do so. These guys are gonna become huge and you don't want to be caught with your pants down when their new album Dingir comes out in late autumn. Peace out!