Usurpress — The Regal Tribe
Mid-paced and fairly adventurous, The Regal Tribe follows in the footprints of current death by eschewing an hour of standard riffing and opening up the scales into something more meaningful and thoughtful. Considering vocalist Stefan Pettersson's battle with bone marrow cancer during the recording, this makes a lot of sense. When traditional breakdowns go for grim and lurch, Usurpress stretch out the chaos and focus on building a meaningful atmosphere. This is apparent from the opening track ("Beneath the Starless Skies") onward. That's not to say that there isn't solid, death metal sustenance on this record. Songs like "The One They Call the Usurpress" and "In the Shadow of the New Gods" pummel along in all their loving, old school fury. Showing their growth, Usurpress have a few non-traditional tracks worked into the mix, too. "The Halls of Extinction" is a soft, creepy, fairly ethereal piece reminiscent of an earlier Trey Azagthoth. Surprisingly light for the album, but wonderfully not out of place, this track fist firmly in the middle and holds its ground against the grim pieces surrounding it. "On a Bed of Straw" takes another delightfully different instrumental turn on the last half of the album. Letting the guitar do the heavy lifting of exposition, "Bed" is a wonderfully bright and compelling piece of guitar work over sometimes plodding, but mostly supportive drum work.
Usurpress' latest, The Regal Tribe, is a fun piece of modern death metal. Traditional in most regards, but following the modern trend of thoughtful guitars breaking up the doom and gloom, this release doesn't break new ground, but it is certainly very enjoyable. Hearing this direction is very promising for the future of Usurpress, as it's always better to have overachieving bands in a sea of many that are comfortable retreading the same old waters.