Kansas’s technical death metal powerhouse Origin return with their eighth full length record Chaosmos. Paul Ryan, Mikey Torres, Jason Keyser, and John Longstreth waste zero time pummeling the listener with the opening track “Ecophagy.” The track starts off with a strong hook and then proceeded to get progressively more technical as the track goes on. Paul Ryan’s trademark playing style is on display in full effect. I really like the drum sound on this album as it is quite crushing.
The second track is the title track, “Chaosmos.” More catchy riffing and catchy drumming into a blast beat clinic. The whole tune is unrelenting and heavy and builds to an excellent circle pit break. There are some slight odes to Gorgasm with the vocal stylings on this one.
The third track, “Cognito, Tamen Non-Sum” opens with some low end trem riffing that has a bit of an Angel Corpse sound to it and then goes into some nice chugs with gang vocals. The fourth track “Panoptical” has the craziest intro of any of the tracks on Chaosmos. A rollercoaster of a banger. Ryan’s trademark arpeggio runs are in full force here. “Decolonizer” Is the most moshable song on the album and opens with some incredibly groovy riffs. “Cullspace” opens with some spacey chords and then some volume swells and then blast beat city.
Stylistically this is a fun Origin record in that the arrangements are so all over the place. Some of the tracks are a bit longer than others and each builds a bit differently. I think my favorite track on the album is the last track “Heat Death.” This one clocks in at over eleven minutes and is relentless start to finish.
Overall, this is my favorite Origin record with this lineup. Each track is catchy and the mindfulness in detail is meticulous. I do wish they would find a second guitarist to add some beef to these arrangements. Having been around for around twenty-five years these cats are still pushing the envelopes of technicality and precision. Go ahead and put this one on my best of 2022 list.
