Unholy renderings meant to trick the eye beyond the uncanny valley set us ruthlessly searching for the ultimate hidden-surface determination: A relentless topographical application of deepest shaded values upon chiseled-smooth geometrical bones. This distorted drapery is mere hallucinatory veil upon vectors and bloodied textures, a skin splattered and nailed atop the very bones of our falsest reality. When positing the escapism one might sink into via diabolical music, stargazing, and (pfffftt!) reading science fiction no doubt the most high among us busy our selves with pre-rendered illusory worlds beyond but, what if we could go deeper? Like, math nerd deeper into video game rendering, lighting, and shading techniques? Uh, and set our exploration of geometrical overlays and real-time rasterization unto fantastic old school death metal… No worries, anonymous Ontario, Canada-based duo Perilaxe Occlusion have already begun this sojourn of ephemeral machined worlds with ‘Exponential Decay’, a fantastic demo tape that introduces their prowess for the riff and the complex world of three dimensional artistic realization.

In terms of the “new old school” of death metal Perilaxe Occlusion are essentially on point with the better acts of the last five years, gaining ground quickly in appreciation of Tomb Mold‘s ‘Primordial Malignity‘ to start while showing some of the early technical slice of Undeath‘s ‘Demo ’19‘. This makes for a short but effective listening experience that I would generally equate in quality and invention with Phobophilic‘s stellarly ‘Undimensioned Identities‘ from last year. So, already we’ve loaded on some of the highest praise possible in terms of style and sound design. After a few deeper breaths of ‘Exponential Decay’ you’ll likely agree that its modus is derived from modern idealist attitudes towards classic Finnish death metal that emphasizes and expands early Carcass inspired hooks and the sort of trailing, imaginative rhythm guitar work the region was lightly known for in the early 90’s. Of course they bring in some notes of classic doom as well, fully aping the opening riff from “Under the Sun” note-for-note on the outro to “Skeletal Bifurcation”. Musically speaking these guys write fairly memorable death metal songs which are by virtue of their riffs and thick production values fully engrossing, horrifying events.

In terms of lyrics and themes, I won’t say they’ve posited a theme that outclasses their music but rather a modus that becomes more surreal each time I sit and think about it. In an interview with guitarist/bassist XT he states “…we write about what technical aspects are present in a scene that’s rendering something like a brutal murder or a rotting corpse. Death is the centre of the topic, but technological specifics are the focus.” with the preface that he has experience in video game development and 3D modeling. As a fellow with some (early 2000’s) computer science education and several thousand video games under my belt the lyrics were honestly a bit funny until I’d given ’em a bit of thought. Consider the mindset of an artist depicting gore and death, day in and day out needling and refining this perfect model of a corpse so that it might exist within a simulation… dying the same horrible, cruelest death millions of times in the eyes of countless people. If they don’t go “metal video game” cartoon goofy on us, and you know what what I mean, these ideas have the potential to express a unique intelligence that nowadays death metal severely needs. So yes, riffs, but also computer science soaked in murderous obsession. I’m all for it and had to pick this one up as soon as I’d heard it. If the score seems a bit low versus praise it is because this is a vertical slice of what Perilaxe Occlusion will become, they’ve huge potential on display here and with plenty of room to grow out of hand. Moderately high recommendation.

Info:
ARTIST:	PERILAXE OCCLUSION
TITLE:	Exponential Decay
TYPE:	Demo
LABEL(S):	Chaos Records
RELEASE DATE:	December 11th, 2020
BUY & LISTEN:	Bandcamp [All Formats]
GENRE(S):	Death Metal

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