In pondering the portion of ones existence which is static, or, considered separate from their identity Santiago, Chile-based death/thrash metal quartet DEMIURGUS approach the act of being as a suggested theme for their debut full-length album. While their efforts do well to stew together an ambitious array of progressive and/or melodic death traits with thrash and even hardcore punk informed structuring ‘Equilibrio‘ doesn’t ultimately find a common hingepoint between its various nodes of exuberant treatment. While the end result lacks enough fundamental stylistic cohesion to manifest a confident point of view there is yet a certain determination to their work which does well to sell their core meld at a glance.

Demiurgus formed circa 2019 by way of Manuel J.S.M. who also features (as bassist) in two other death/thrash metal bands Slaughterhouse and Death Force. For the first three years it’d been a mostly self-built solo project with J.S.M. performing all of the instruments on two demos released that same year (‘Demo‘ and ‘Sense of Life‘) with the former reading as a learning experience and the latter a solid blueprint for the ‘old school’ thrashing death metal style they’re partially embodying today as a quartet. Before they’d fully gotten there one song, “La Decapitación de Cronos“, was released as a trio in 2022 and this’d only reinforced the barreling and shouting style of death/thrash adjacent attack we find expanded on this debut LP alongside a few nods to various other points of interest.

Crookedly phrased prog-death movements, late 80’s thrash riffs and simpler runs characterize Demiurgus‘ approach as both strangely non-canonical in its tradition yet suitable as an approximation of late 80’s ex-thrasher death metal searching in the dark. Opener “Extremauncion” sounds particularly jumbled together in this regard as we get our first taste of Brazilian/German thrash metal inspired attack from its earlier set rhythms alongside echoing vocals and some interruptive bass guitar breaks set to expand the groove of the song. Though there is a plain enough composition expressed here I’d found the introduction to this album muddled as the opener sports a collection of tropes detangling themselves to suit the melodic non-statement which it ultimately circles. “Saberse Mortal (Pt. I)” pulls many of the same tricks on its lead-in but by the time we’re blasting at it ~1:17 minutes in it is even less clear that this work is aiming for as we find a prog-deathrash angle with the occasional “epic” heavy metal rally, a bestial swat or two, and/or melodic black/death metal suited motion applied. As you’ll likely glean from the eventual tone of this review, most of these songs manage to be both “all over the place” and yet somewhat mundane in statement at the same time.

While I am a fan of all of the suggested elements puzzled into action here I’d frequently found myself rewinding back to the first few songs on ‘Equilibrio‘ and looking for a single thrash or death metal sourced riff that might’ve stuck with me, often checking out mentally ’til the two minute scrub through burner “Silento Vacio Infernal” brought an unexpected hardcore punk shaped trample to it its arrival. Beyond that point the aforementioned “Dispossessed” does everything it can to create epic-toned and tension filled dramatism as it starts yet in the process of feeding that thread dual-guitar shred, virtuosic bass guitar movements, and a sort of melodic black metal informed surge near the middle we never quite land upon a solid riff or a clearer sense of style.

While mentions of early 90’s Death and Sepultura initially made sense in approach of ‘Equilibrio‘ I’d found the second half of the full listen provides further questions of style and flow despite the whole of the spin achieving its ouevre. “Maldito Creador” is a simple and stubborn midpaced half-thrash metal song which braces itself with chugged triplets and a slow-rocking bridge, sounding more like Dekapited or Criminal (see also: “Alienacion Total”) than anything else ’til its final third and right after we get something like a generic melodic black/death metal song in the title track, “Equilibrio”. Although none of these pieces are outright bad in their own right I’d felt something fundamental was missing that might make it all cohesive and frankly that isn’t such an awkward result for a young band’s debut LP. In this sub-genre space the quality of the riffcraft overtakes the quantity and here neither fully factor into Demiurgus‘ lasting impact.

Mashing together a series of bright ideas sans any particularly keen fusion in mind doesn’t make for a well curated listening experience for my own taste here but it does speak to some admirable ambition which is more than likely to translate to a more seamless iteration of quasi-progressive death metal in the future. For a modest production and an ambitious first draft ‘Equilibrio‘ shows great potential. While their core idea eventually materializes Demiurgus‘ execution isn’t all that inspired and as such I’d still recommend death/thrash metal fans giving it a shot with some reservation. A moderate recommendation.

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