You kind of know what you are getting with any band on The Artisan Era: techy, shredding tech death of some sort, sometimes with keyboards, often a bit blackened, but always with top-notch musicians. Their roster is full of them: Inferi, Aethereus, Demon King, The Devils of Loudon, to name a few.
And in 2024, Canadian act Apogean joined the roster and released Cyberestrictive, a perfect fit for the label, and now we have the relatively quick turnaround of the follow-up, Waste Where Life Begins, and they are still a perfect fit for the label, as the band’s second effort picks up right where the debut left off and delivers exactly what I stated in my opening paragraph.
Also, the fact that vocalist Mac Smith is involved here adds some real street cred to the band, as his involvement with bands like Decrepit Birth, Alterbeast, and the killer, Gears of War-themed tech-deathcore project Hammer of Dawn, ensures the vocals and lyrics are top-notch.
Generally, for me, 33 minutes is a tad short for an album, but here it’s the perfect length. The 8 songs, once again produced by Zach Ohren, are crisp, clear, and technical, with just a hint of keyboards here and there, and enough memorability to warrant multiple listens — often a problem with this tech style (i.e the recent The Absolution Sequence).
You get pretty epic blasters like opener “Daughter of the Oak” and “White Trees, Black Leaves”, some crunchier moments like the title track “Lie In Cinder”, the Jay Kristoff-inspired “Nassaru” and, of course, tracks that do some of everything – which, if I’m being honest, most do, but I’ll single out the killer “Hologram (Singing Silently on an Empty Stage)”.
The album’s final 2 tracks, the ambient interlude “Ritual” and “Black Smoke, Bleeding Earth”, add just a little more experimentation to an already complex album that should be on your radar if you like The Artisan Era bands or top-notch technical metal.
