By Will Yannacoulias
Photos by Aaron Brown Photography
Regina’s Augurium brought the heavy with August’s Unearthly Will, a perfectly executed progressive death metal masterpiece that commands the listener’s undivided attention right from the opening notes. Virtuoso musicians Taylor McDonald (drums), Logan Barlow (lead guitar), Yianni Pantelopoulos (vocals), Cejay Carnochan (rhythm guitar), and Reid Paraszczynec (bass) come together seamlessly to craft a set of songs that are without misstep. Augurium is grandiose and dramatic in their epic symphonic passages without ever becoming bloated or ponderous, dangerously fast when riffing without overwhelming the audience or losing the thread. The arrangements are atmospheric and structured but never to excess, always in service to the song as a whole. Swinging from delicate to ominous to downright brutal, the emotional range and complexity of the music elevates it above mere heavy shred, achieving a sublime balance of the technical and human.
"This album was all done in house" Carnochan told NSMZ. "Writing, production, mixing & mastering. In the past renting a professional studio with a paid engineer we were always having to work with some sort of a deadline. Our studio engineer is our bass player Reid, so it gave us the freedom to work on it until it was perfect. A big professional studio may have given us a bigger more epic sound but being able to take two years to write and another six to eight months for recording, mixing and mastering was phenomenal."
Unearthly Will is available on all streaming services.