Search - Origin :: Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas

"Anyone who isn't dead or from another plane of existence wo

Barry Dejasu | Rehoboth, Massachusetts | 10/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thus quoteth Alan Rickman in the film _Dogma_, as sampled in the intro to "Inhuman" - perhaps one of the funniest and most appropiately-themed samples I've ever heard in any form of music.



What can be said about Origin that has not yet already? Probably very little. However, I'll give it a shot.



The instrumentation is simply ridiculous in its delivery. The endless shredding on the three sets of fretboards from guitarists Paul and Jeremy, and bassist Mike Flores, combined with the explosive and machine gun-like battery of John J. Longstreth, make for never-ending stretches of barrage (in perhaps three tempos: fast, ultra-fast, and inhuman fast); it is this jazz-like unpredictability that makes Origin's music a risk to anyone with a knack for headbanging (one is fairly likely to either break their neck or even be decapitated as a result!). And let's not forget the vocals: James' berserk, chillingly inhuman grunting, screaming, and growling (often dovetailed by equally effective backing vocals from Paul and Jeremy) recite often very long and complicated passages of verse with an almost absurd dexterity.



This is technical music from another dimension. Highly recommended for fans of the Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah, and some of the more or less "typical" technical death metal bands like Morbid Angel and Nile. For more great over-the-top technical death, check out Necrophagist and Psyopus.



Finally, I'd recommend putting IcyHot on your neck *before* hitting the PLAY button when this CD is in your player."

As fast as metal gets. Quite good.

General Zombie | the West | 11/17/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'll keep this review short.(By my standards anyway) This is a good death/grind album. Not excellent but interesting enough to be worth your time if you like the style.



This is the most 'extreme' metal album I've ever heard. The guitar tone isn't the heaviest ever, but the sheer speed and unrelenting nature of the riffs, combined with a totally insane drum assault pretty much crush the vast majority of the opposition. The drumming on this album is simply unbelievable(though they say it's heavily triggered). It's got all the speed and intensity of your standard death or grind blastbeat but avoids the standard and simple 2 beat pattern that most extreme drummers use. All in all, this is one of the most spectacular drummers I've heard in 'extreme' metal, surpassed only by Flo and Brann, from Cryptopsy and Mastodon, respectively. The drum production leaves a bit to be desired. The bass drums are a bit too small and ticky sounding, which occasionally gets on my nerves, as they are going constantly. The guitars are very solid as well. They've got sickening speed, but still are clear and distinct, and even vaguely melodic from time to time. They've got a nice mix of trem and/or non-chord based riffing combined with an unusually choppy(for death metal) somewhat thrash-like riffing. The main weakness are the vocals. This band uses three vocalists, and none of them are very good. They've got 2 growlers and a black metalish screech-growler. The screech-growler is the best of them, though their main problem isn't so much their voices as it is how the vocal lines are written. They are extremely rhythmic and staccatto with an excessively obvious and excentuated melody(such as they have). It's hard to describe. The best I could say is that the vocal lines are structurally a lot more like a rhythm guitar part than they are like most metal vox parts.(The vocal lines even mirror the guitar parts a lot of the time) This isn't helped by the fact that the main growlers doesn't enuciate at all, perhaps the worst I've heard, which makes them even more repetitive. All this gives them a sort of cold, mechanistic feel, which I don't really care for. However, it is very distinctive, and makes the album a tad more interesting, even if it isn't in a totally positive way.



It's hard to pick out standout tracks, as they're ain't much variety here. Frankly, I have a hard time remembering anything too specific about some of the tracks, but they are all good, with out any of them really being fantastic. Portal is probably my favorite, and it is one of the most varied tracks, with a relatively subdued, even atmospheric mid-section and some more melodic guitar work. Inhuman is great too, particularly the intro after the opening sample. I remember Perversion of Hate is another particularly strong track, though I can't recall much about it right this second.



Anyways, me like. Perhaps you would like, who know? END REVIEW NOW!!!!!"

Splendid after dinner music

I am the | Live from Kolob | 07/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This last word in technical death metal. This music is beyond fast, beyond brutal, and beyond belief. The drummer is either an octopus or is possessed by Satan. The blast beats and double bass rolls are incomprehensibly fast. (I think he may be an octopus possessed by Satan.) Listen to the sound samples for "Portal" and imagine the smoke coming off of that man's bass drum pedals. Anyway, this album makes a perfect mother's day gift, and if you play it for your new girlfriend, you're guaranteed to get laid."