Review by Raphaël on April 28, 2026.

I'll begin with how I discovered Archspire, 12 years ago at this point. So, the Summer Slaughter Tour was stopping by my little town with The Faceless headlining and with a fire line up: Fallujah, Rings of Saturn and two bands I did not know, Archspire and Black Crown Initiate (it's also how I discovered the amazing Andy Thomas). To this day, it's one of the best shows I've ever been to, and I've been to a LOT of shows! Since I went in not knowing them, the impact was even bigger! They came on stage, the lights were off, then, they started playing and the entire crowd gasped, it was like getting sucker punched in the gut, but in a good way. Right there and then, I became a lifelong fan, waiting with anticipation for every release.

So, when they decided to go independent, launching their crowdfunding campaign with a video explaining in great detail the estimated cost of the entire project, I hastily signed up for the tier 3 CD edition. 125 000 dollars was the goal they set up, and it turns out I wasn't the only one who was hyped because they reached their goal in 12 hours! In total, 3610 people gave 396 326 CA$! With this massive and well-deserved success, they started working and in December 2025 we got our first taste of Too Fast To Die with the hilarious music video for the song "Carrion Ladder" and it sent shockwaves in the metal world. The song featured all the trademark Archspire staples, rapid fire vocals and crazy fast technicality but this time, they incorporated a new level of melodicism that changed things up and the result was phenomenal, I swear that melody was playing in my head nonstop for a few weeks! They already started to make more memorable riffs in 2021's Bleed The Future, with a lot of grooves, but not to that degree.

Now, the moment has finally come, the album came out earlier this month and after multiple listens I can confirm, it's their most ambitious and varied album but it remains a pure Archspire experience that is fun from beginning to end. Clocking in at a whopping 40 minutes, it's their longest album and this longer length allowed them to jam even more ideas in there, but it honestly flies by in an instant! Like mentioned earlier, if I had to summarize the big new thing on this album is the incorporation of melodies and memorable choruses. They also lean in their hip hop influences, creating infectious grooves that make you move each time. It's a testament to their incredible songwriting skills; to be able to take so many different influences and create something new that's more than the sum of its parts and that sounds uniquely you! You have the obvious foundation of technical death metal, Necrophagist, Soreption, Decapitated and even, Suffocation can be heard with some more brutal parts but now add the obvious rap influences, with Oliver Rae Aleron superhuman rap delivery! He uses a special technique where he never stops singing, while exhaling AND inhaling, so he never has to take a pause between lines. It takes insane breathing strength, control and precise mouth and tongue control, to be able to create all those sounds. It truly never gets old. I think it's the first time I've marveled at another man's mouth muscles like this, but here we are. Being a tech death album means that there is plenty of crazy shredding, neoclassical solos so now let me marvel at the fingers of Dean Lamb and Tobi Morelli for a second! Every riff, every solo is executed with such high technical ability, it gets dizzying and you are left wondering how much time it must take to master an instrument to that level. Speaking of masters of their instruments, Jared Smith has plenty of memorable and tasteful bass lines and completing the line up is newcomer, ex Inferi drummer, Spencer Moore, who had the impossible task of replacing Spencer Prewett. A task he succeeds at with flying colors I might add. Blast beats of every variety, sometimes slower for the grooves and at other times, gravity blasts at an incomprehensible speed.

In my opinion, it's the best the bands ever sounded, bringing technical death metal to a new level, escaping the sometimes-challenging aspect of the genre by incorporating infectious grooves and melodies and simplifying the song structures, making this concoction of highly technical music feel almost, dare I say, accessible! It has been such a pleasure to see the band create this complete artistic project and own 100% of their labor, escaping the music industry's often predatory behavior. I'm glad my 40$ could help and I can't wait to see them live on May 1^st.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10