Replacire
Do Not Deviate
(Season of Mist)
Boston’s Replacire are an odd group, and their sophomore record capitalizes on all these idiosyncrasies in the creation of the impressive Do Not Deviate. Of course, what makes Replacire fascinating is how they deviate from the norm (this is a band picked up by Season of Mist, after all). Imagine a group marrying the ferocious intensity of Dying Fetus with the horror-fueled ambiance and technicality of The Faceless and Revocation, with large doses of Nordic prog. Of course, there’s also a strong sense of the avant-garde, with shockingly melodic vocal lines that come out of nowhere in brief spurts, only to reappear later in the record, unexpectedly. On top of all of this, most of these songs hover around the three-minute mark and, somehow, never feel overstuffed or too full of insanity. The record is dynamic, technical, truly progressive, and a really fun listen.
Seriously, describing how Replacire got everything so right on Do Not Deviate without sounding truly insane is quite an accomplishment. Aside from a middle section that drags ever-so-slightly from the album’s peaks (“Build Upon the Grave of He Who Bends” and the title track), the band’s sophomore record is an achievement: an album that is just as enjoyable as it is progressive. The marriage of brutal technicality and puzzlingly hooky songwriting is potent and allows subsequent listens to feel necessary rather than tedious. There are clearly parts of this maelstrom you will miss on your first go ’round, but Replacire’s talent and songwriting chops help make putting together their musical puzzle more fun than real life puzzles. You also get the sense that the band have more to give, that they can push themselves just a bit further into the unknown and release something truly groundbreaking. As it stands, Do Not Deviate offers up one Hell of a promising future for this Boston band.
