A simulated world, dimensions thick and coughed from the dementia of an Eldritch beast is yet wholly real to our subjects, those implanted into its terrarium of ever-gnarling experimentation. The soil erupts, knifed by obsidian spear-tips through polygonal mesh, as the terrified life below melts and melds unwillingly with fresh fungal usurpers, glommed to their very peptides ’til a new mutant race arrives. With our narrator a growling beast and their medium a macabre operetta of blackened-thrash influenced progressive melodious death metal Seattle, Washington-based quartet Xoth rear their thousand-toothed jaw and detail the throes of invasion, mutation, and transcendence on this grand-scaled third full-length album. ‘Exogalactic‘ is the shred-orchestra of sub-genre defiant yet familiar melodic metal most’d likely not seen coming as part of their alien evolution these last ~ten or so years. Lead heartily by melodic leads and veering farthest yet from the morbidity of death metal and the majesty of 2010’s tech-thrash metal this release is all about setting alight the world they’ve built thus far with a guitar-heroic point of flash amidst dramatic sci-fi narrative, an experience which has a bit of prog-power metal held close to its chest.

Xoth formed circa 2014 and were confoundingly ready to go with an accomplished mLP (‘Hostile Terraforming‘, 2014) blazed out of the aether in the space of a few months. This’d more than likely been the result of co-vocalist/guitarist Tyler Splurgis‘ time spent developing an (initially) similar sound and approach in his prior trio Phalgeron. We don’t necessarily need to consider ‘Cosmic Cataclysm‘ (2012) a preliminary step in this general direction since others were involved but eh, the completionist will be well-served in harvesting what they can from the past. Otherwise the original sound of Xoth was the result of gathering a stable group of four who’d elevated this synthesis of ‘epic’ black metal aesthetic traits, such as Absu-esque vocal diction and later Immortal‘s heavy/thrash metal infused movement, alongside the tech-thrash metal level attack of the time (see: Skeletonwitch, Vektor) atop what I’d consider progressive death metal compositions which’d exaggerated elements of both power metal and death/thrash into their own gnarled forms. This might sound like a lot, and it was a lot on their debut LP (‘Invasion of the Tentacube‘, 2016) but their myriad points of inspiration came together in a way which was accomplished and full of potential elaboration. My interest at the time was dependent on what direction they’d take it. Well, hey, I guess if you can shred then go on and shred, then.

The fiddly yet engaging death metal warmth of Xoth‘s debut LP hadn’t been entirely lost on their follow-up (‘Interdimensional Invocations‘, 2019) but no doubt they’d pulled deeper into a tech-death focus and that’d meant a more distant render, harsher overdriven guitar tone, and a sort of satisfyingly homebrewed recording sound. The album received tones of praise for its shred-happy, memorable (see: “Mountain Machines”) ride and it’d impressed me upon review wherein I’d suggested it was: “a point of greater definition for Xoth that cements them as a notable independent and progressive extreme metal band.” Looking back on the record now with ‘Exogalactic‘ in hand of course it’d be fair to focus on the recording quality, as they’d dialed back bassist Ben Bennett‘s (ex-Warbringer) presence depending on the song and I think this’ll be most obvious when/if you go see them live because a few songs become fourth-dimensional with a louder twanging bop to their rhythm section in the flesh; The important note to take from skating through the first two records from the group is that they’d obviously put the time and work into making sure that second album was more accomplished, tightened and yes even a bit more reigned in to serve a barrage of distinctly voiced pieces. Where they’d head from there wasn’t all that obvious but a high standard of musicianship and plenty of shredding was the expectation set.

No longer human. — Four years later we’ve got the louder twanging bass tone, a crispier render altogether, and a decidedly more melody driven record in terms of where the greater onion of it all begins peeling away. Though I will inevitably overstate this point, up front the voicing of this album generally funnels every possible moment toward its heroic use of lead guitars. What was once a tool of finesse is now the major directive and musical centerpiece of Xoth‘s sound and of course I’d seen this coming based on the reception of the shred on ‘Interdimensional Invocations‘. This isn’t such a complaint, mind you, I appreciated a lot of the same traits as they’d developed within comparable (yet compositionally different) group Necropanther on their two latest LPs and I think that is a good enough comparison to sort of get an idea of the sub-genre ground covered and what sort of listener will be most keen to what ‘Exogalactic‘ hath brought. While opener “Reptilian Bloodsport” is its own brilliant shining cataclysm of an opener, a grand showing in its own right, you’ll best understand my core observation(s) when dipping into its restlessly shredded follow-up “Manuscripts of Madness“. There we find the rhythms and the riffs certainly still count but what’ll stick in your ear for the next few days is likely the tech-twisted soar of the leads and the curvature they provide to each phrase. “Sporecraft Zero” pushes this thought further with a melody a bit more ripe for recall but more importantly it further establishes the jittery, overactive melodic voice of the album which presses on through its kinda ‘Heartwork‘-feeling swerve toward the hook, a virtuosic and escalating moment which does well to keep the pace of the album pushing.

The first three songs on ‘Exogalactic‘ lend enough momentum to drive through most of the full listen unhindered and largely utilizing the same sort of voice to tell its tale. It is the sort of experience which initially benefits from a thorough scan of the lyrics while listening as they’re telling a clear enough sci-fi/video game level story here while making an exciting enough showing of it. From my point of view the album goes a bit power-prog around “The Parasitic Orchestra” which almost has a Running Wild-esque shudder to the development of its verse riffs (see also: “Reflective Nemesis”) wherein the implied technical death metal mass hasn’t yet set its mode to punish, elements of melodic death and black thrash are there but not feeding into the upward shot reach of Xoth‘s sound. My impression from that point soon shifted to appreciating this album as some manner of modern blackened power-thrash record with a nowadays melodic death feeling, an observation which oddly enough tips us back to a sort of early Skeletonwitch-esque or even Three Inches of Blood sort of feeling by the time we’ve hit standout wailer “Saga of the Blade” and especially “Battlesphere”. To be fair this “tech-adventure metal” stride had already been introduced on ‘Interdimensional Invocations‘ to a lesser degree but here the laser-sword acrobatics have officially been let loose and we get bigger chunks of the plot within each piece.

That isn’t to say that I kept listening to ‘Exogalactic‘ on repeat for days on end because it’d reminded me of anything else but instead for the sake of it being catchy metal music in a very approachable yet action heavy style. It’d appealed to me even if I’d ultimately felt they’d veered out of my own interest in the collective sub-genre soup presented before. In that sense they’ve still upheld the general qualities that you might have felt were essential going into a Xoth album experience while pushing their gig over the top, to the point that I feel like they need an extra guitarist to do it live. At any rate every moment on this record is energetic, memorable and tightly played to the point that the only nuance I could successfully reach for was the slick lead guitar work and that’d been the downfall of my own listening experience, getting too locked into their mode and leaving me wanting more than the same level of volley fire song after song. Now, of course I say that without downplaying how impressed I’ve been by ‘Exogalactic‘, these folks have earned all accolades for the clear amount of work put into its all-around stellarly realization. Even if the end result wasn’t my thing it was hard to argue with how entertain I’d been after weeks of regular listening. A high recommendation.

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