AN NCS PREMIERE: RESURGENCE — “MACHINE”

 

Let’s tick off some of the good things that Vancouver’s Resurgence have going for them, shall we?

There’s the cover art by Tony Koehl for their forthcoming debut album Besieged, which catches the eye quite quickly and effectively. As you’ll see below, they’re also a photogenic bunch of lads — or at least they make you wonder what the hell was going on at that photo shoot. If appearances can be credited, they also look like the kind of dudes you’d like spending time with, as long as you’re comfortable around knives, cigars, and lots of beer.

What have I forgotten? Oh yeah! Their music… it’s a form of modern death metal that’s something like a cross between a fully tooled-up war machine and a blood-stained butcher delivering red meat to the mosh pit. You’ll get a lip-smacking taste of that through our premiere of a track aptly named “Machine“.

I probably shouldn’t have used the term “modern death metal”, because I’m not even sure I know what that means. On the other hand, you really can’t call this music old-school death metal, and it doesn’t fit neatly into other DM micro-genres either.

What Resurgence deliver in “Machine” is a combination of pavement-cracking grooves, a starburst of technical fireworks, a punishing beatdown, a rampaging tank attack, and the audio semblance of a fully fueled flamethrower with the trigger pulled all the way back.

Conveyed with the benefit of a powerhouse production job, you get an absolutely decimating drum assault and maniacal, head-whipping, body-mangling riffs, along with wild, bestial vocals that veer between guttural lows, throat-lacerating howls, and scathing shrieks. You also get deranged, skittering guitar leads and rhythmic course changes, as the band segue into bouts of pile-driving destructiveness and mosh-triggering leaping and bounding.

And then there are the solos, which are worth the time all by themselves. There are two of them, to be precise — flickering, swirling, napalm-spewing, face-melting fret-burners that will make your eyes pop open and your mouth break into a goofy grin. Or maybe I should just speak for myself.

In a nutshell, “Machine” is murderously good, and it’s not the only ripping fun to be had on Besieged — not by a long shot.

Besieged will be released on August 1. It was produced by Matt Roach at Rain City Recorders in Vancouver, BC, and mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music in New Windsor, NY.

You can pre-order the album on Bandcamp, either on CD or as a download, and it will also available on iTunes and all streaming services.

And with that, please enjoy “Machine“, along with the previously released album track “In the Mirror” (and the guitar play-through video for that same song).

Bandcamp:
https://resurgencemusic.bandcamp.com/album/besieged

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/resurgencevancouver