Hello Metalheads! This is John back with another album review! Exterminatus released Echoes from a Distant Star, Pt. 1 on April 18th, 2025. This sci-fi themed technical death metal band really brought their best material to date with this latest offering. This album really caught my ear the moment I heard it, but really took me a while to wrap my mind around the whole thing.
The first time I heard about this band was when they released their single for this album. I reference it all, but the Facebook death metal sharing group, brought this band to my attention in a big way. I dove right into their single The Signal and knew I would love their music. I went back and listened to their first album and I was right.
I am an absolute sucker for sci-fi influenced metal as a whole. If it’s prog, death metal or even tech death I will probably love it! The way the guitarists manage to play intense unison lines but then also get into some intense counter point is really impressive. The vocals have to have some serious influence from Derek “Demon Carcass” Rydquist(The Zennith Passage). He sounds very similar to him in the best of ways with adding his own unique spin on his techniques.
The album starts off with Cosmic Disturbance which is my favorite on the record. The track starts off with a bass introduction, but instantly turns into a tracks that rips the entire way through. The energy level is super high for the entire track and the way they transition between passages doesn’t let the energy go anywhere either. They weave in and out of grooves, riffs, solos and even sub-genres like it’s nothing. Even during the metric modulation at 2:53. They went from what sounds like a four beat measure to five beats per measure like absolute pros. That may sound like an easy thing to do, but they way they did it sounds so cool!
Even though this came out in April and I’m releasing my thoughts now in May, this definitely has potential to be in my album of the year list for sure. This is an easy 10/10 and will be in my listening lists for quite a long time. Exterminatus really cranked up their quality for this outing in a huge way. Links will be provided below, don’t forget to listen and even buy if you love it like I do!
https://open.spotify.com/album/0fPVXhAsJLqqkgFApoaeQo
https://music.apple.com/us/album/echoes-from-a-distant-star-pt-1/1797111175
https://youtube.com/@exterminatusband?si=Tz5m4bH1pBUHF4_N
https://exterminatus.bandcamp.com/album/echoes-from-a-distant-star-part-i
https://www.facebook.com/share/1JUjjr9BAx/?mibextid=wwXIfr
