Relentless Mutation

Relentless Mutation is the third studio album by Canadian technical death metal band Archspire, released on September 22, 2017 through Season of Mist. It is the first album to feature bassist Jared Smith, who replaced bassist and vocalist Jaron Evil who departed in 2014. The album is a concept album revolving around a telepathic cult called "A.U.M.",[1] and their experiments on human biology.[2]

Relentless Mutation
Studio album by
Archspire
ReleasedSeptember 22, 2017 (2017-09-22)
RecordedAugust – September 2016
StudioFlatline Studios (Denver, Colorado, United States)
GenreTechnical death metal
Length30:40
LabelSeason of Mist
ProducerDave Otero
Archspire chronology
The Lucid Collective
(2014)		 Relentless Mutation
(2017)		 Bleed the Future
(2021)
Singles from Relentless Mutation
  1. "Involuntary Doppelgänger"
    Released: July 5, 2017 (2017-07-05)
  2. "Remote Tumour Seeker"
    Released: July 28, 2017 (2017-07-28)
  3. "Human Murmuration"
    Released: August 22, 2017 (2017-08-22)
  4. "Calamus Will Animate"
    Released: September 18, 2017 (2017-09-18)

In February 2018, Relentless Mutation was nominated for the 2018 Juno Awards Metal / Hard Music Album of the Year.[3]

Promotion and release

A lyric video for the album's premiere single, "Involuntary Doppelgänger", was released on July 5, 2017.[4]

In addition to "Involuntary Doppelgänger", the band released three additional singles to promote the album: "Remote Tumour Seeker" on July 28, "Human Murmuration" on August 22, and "Calamus Will Animate" on September 18.[5]

An instrumental lyric video was released via Season of Mist's YouTube channel to promote the fourth single "Calamus Will Animate".[6]

The album was made available for streaming in its entirety via Season of Mist's YouTube channel on September 21, 2017.[7]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Metal Injection9/10[8]
Angry Metal Guy4.0/5.0[9]
ItDjents8/10[10]
DistortedSoundMag7/10[11]

The album was praised by critics. Heavy metal review blog Angry Metal Guy named the album as their September album of the month, calling the album one that took Archspire's sound to the "next level", and praising it as "one of the most inspiring contributions to tech death that I’ve heard in a long time, hitting that perfect blend of intensity and technicality with the neo-classical flare of early Fleshgod Apocalypse.[12]

In their 4.0 / 5.0 review of the album, the blog cited Archspire's Relentless Mutation as the album that would "make their legacy", and praised it as "innovative", stating that Archspire had now established themselves at the forefront of the tech death genre.[9]

The blog would go on to rank the album at #7 in their best of 2017 list,[13] with reviewer Kronos calling the album the best tech death record since Spawn of Possession's Incurso.[14]

Heavy metal blog Heavy Blog is Heavy also praised the evolution of the band's sound, stating that it "shows a band with a perfect sound somehow evolving and becoming even more perfect.[15] They would place the album at #5 on their 25 best albums of 2017 list.[16]

Metal Injection ranked the album at 13 in their best albums of 2017,[17] and called the album a "great step forward for death metal" while praising Oli Peters's vocal delivery.[18]

Chart performance

The album debuted at number No. 14 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, No. 15 on the Hard Rock Album chart, No. 34 on the Independent Albums chart, and No. 46 on the Rock Albums chart.[19]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Involuntary Doppelgänger"3:46
2."Human Murmuration"4:13
3."Remote Tumour Seeker"4:01
4."Relentless Mutation"4:35
5."The Mimic Well"4:05
6."Calamus Will Animate"3:50
7."A Dark Horizontal"6:10
Total length:30:40

Personnel

Archspire

  • Oliver Rae Aleron – vocals
  • Tobi Morelli – guitars
  • Dean Lamb – guitars
  • Jared Smith – bass
  • Spencer Prewett – drums

Production

Charts
Chart (2017) Peak
position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[20] 14
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[21] 34

References
  1. "Stay Tech With ARCHSPIRE's Dizzying New Song "Remote Tumour Seeker"". Metal Injection. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. "Archspire - Relentless Mutation - 9.3/10 - Gutter Voice". Archived from the original on 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  3. "Juno Awards Reveal 2018 Nominees". exclaim.ca. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  4. "Archspire announce new album, premiere song". Lambgoat.com. 2017-07-05. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  5. "ARCHSPIRE Channels Its Spacier Side With "Human Murmuration"". Metal Injection. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  6. "Archspire "Calamus Will Animate" Karaoke - The Circle Pit". Thecirclepit.com. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  7. "Archspire 'Relentless Mutation' (album stream)". Exclaim.ca. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  8. "Album Review: ARCHSPIRE Relentless Mutation (with Full Album Stream)". Metalinjection.net. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  9. "Archspire – Relentless Mutation Review". angrymetalguy.com. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  10. "REVIEW: Archspire – "Relentless Mutation"". itdjents.com. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  11. "ALBUM REVIEW: Relentless Mutation – Archspire". distortedsoundmag.com. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  12. "Record(s) o' the Month – September 2017". www.angrymetalguy.com. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  13. "AngryMetalGuy.com's Aggregated Top 10(ish) of 2017: The List to End All Lists". angrymetalguy.com. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  14. "Grymm's and Kronos' Top Ten(ish) of 2017". angrymetalguy.com. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  15. "Archspire – Relentless Mutation". heavyblogisheavy.com. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  16. "Heavy Blog's Top 25 Albums of 2017". heavyblogisheavy.com. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  17. "Metal Injection Writers' Overall Top 20 Albums of 2017". metalinjection.net. 28 December 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  18. "Album Review: ARCHSPIRE Relentless Mutation (with Full Album Stream)". metalinjection.net. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  19. "ARCHSPIRE's New Album 'Relentless Mutation' Has Been Nominated For A 2018 JUNO Award In The Heavy Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year Category". metaldevastationradio.com. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  20. "Archspire Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard.
  21. "Archspire Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard.
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