Terminal Function - The Great Liberator

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TERMINAL FUNCTION is a Swedish death metal band founded in 1998 by guitarist Stefan Aronsson and drummer David Lindkvist (VILDHJARTA). Setting out to make complex and challenging music, guitarist Mikael Almgren and singer Victor Larsson joined in 2001 to further this goal. The two demos reflect the bands blend of tech death with atmospheric elements which led to being signed to the American label Willowtip Records, releasing their debut album "Measuring the Abstract" in 2008. The followup to this album proves to be a bit more refined and solidifies their presence in the SweDeath scene.

The new four track EP shows of the quartets ability to blend tech death with melodic elements. "The End Delivered" explodes into a dissonant groove and in a lot of ways is resembles MESHUGGAH. In fact, I won't even dress it up, this entire EP is emulating MESHUGGAH in a lot of respects. Down to the dissonant and technical grooves, Fredrik Thordendal's signature dreamlike jazz fusion solos, this EP is nothing more than the hundreds, if not thousands of bands the Swedish legends spawned. They couldn't even be bothered to find a vocalist who isn't a carbon copy of Jens Kidman. "Blackened Monuments" digs the hole even further with layered, atmospheric guitars. While one band does not own these individual elements, the combination of them cannot go unnoticed.

It's disconcerting that even a Swedish band has fallen prey to the recent "djent" trend and there are seldom any attempts on this EP to make this sound their own. Without a doubt, there are plenty of people who will love TERMINAL FUNCTION. Just like there are plenty of people who have never listened to CYNIC or MESHUGGAH.

Songwriting: 6
Originality: 2
Memorability: 4
Production: 7