Defigurement is a brutal new Californian technical death metal act featuring some well-known band members, including Mike Heller (Azure Emote, Black Hole Deity) on drums, Kevin Fetus on guitars, DMT on bass/vocals, and Matthias Joyce on vocals. Endbryo is their debut album with 16 songs, some of which are interludes, all in under thirty minutes.

“Shogun of Sorrow” starts with a little guitar opening sequence, where it sounds like the opening of a System of a Down album, then the brutal, smashing drums take us out of that mindset. Heller’s drums are maniacal with the plethora of drum rolls, and the guitars are sharp, the band coming across as that band Pillory, from a few years back. The technical wizardry is dizzying. Vocals range from higher rasps, gutturals, and some dual-layering of the vocals as well. The song is over before you can blink your eye, but there is a lot going on. “Impure Vessel” is one fine example of this. At under a minute, this song crams in some classic Cynic and Pestilence, with the jazzy death metal fusion. I’m like, ‘how did they just do that and make it memorable too?’

“Wounded Landscape”, at 2.36, is one of the longest songs on this album. Starting with technical and jazziness and a very cool hoppy, jumpy groove, before getting into the faster gallop, with some poly-rhythmic drumming, simply astonishing. These drum rolls may be the tightest drum rolls on any album for 2025. The band shifts its gears to gravity blasting before settling down with a variety of science-fiction related sound effects. This song blasts you into space, then just leaves you there to suffer.

“Godtopsy” was one of the first songs released, before the release of this album. Dynamic blasting, with a lot of speedy riffing and a variety of different vocal styles. The drumming gets into more of that jazzy poly-rhythmic style, seen on Cynic’s last several albums, which were jazz fusion, post-rock, with some of the best drumming ever on albums. Some of the sounds, at times, have a Rings of Saturn tone, with the video game beeps, blips, and especially in some of the drum sounds. This song is insane with the drumming; breathtaking is one word that comes to mind. Dizzying guitar solos over the blasts, then a calm, serene landscape is created. The ending atmospheric elements are soothing, which is what is needed after all that prior chaos.

Endbryo is a terrifically fun technical death metal album from Defigurement. This is a tough type of music to play live, meaning the crowd will have their mouths open at the musicianship. To get into this music live can be rather tough. These songs whip by so quickly, and before you know it, another new song hits. Maybe the band will not tour, I have no idea, but I really dig this album. Maybe fewer songs next time could help with the staying power of this, lasting longer.

The album cover is as colorful as the music. Along with the technical death metal style, the progressive jazz-fusion and atmospheric moments are all tied together nicely. I am looking forward to more of their creations!

[Visit the band's website]

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