PROCESS OF A NEW DECLINE

Process of a New Decline is the third full-length studio album by French progressive tech death metal act Gorod. The album was released on Willowtip / Listenable Records. Having released two excellent tech death metal albums in Neurotripsicks (2005) and Leading Vision (2006) there must have been a great deal of pressure on Gorod to produce another great album and after listening to Process of a New Decline I think it´s safe to say that they´ve succeeded in doing just that.

The music is complex and challenging progressive death metal. Lots of tempo and time signature changes throughout the album. There´s a significant neo-classical element in the music too. The music is very brutal and the deep growling vocals suit the music well even though I could have wished for a more varied vocal style ( a bit too monotone after a while). While the music certainly is crushingly heavy and brutal there are lots of melodic guitar runs and the music actually comes off rather sophisticated at times. This is without a doubt Gorod´s most melodic and accessible album to date. Do expect tech metal madness though this is not an easy listen.

An album like Planetary Duality (2008) by The Faceless is an obvious reference IMO and fans of The Faceless should definitely take a listen to Process of a New Decline. Process of a New Decline isn´t as accomplished as Planetary Duality though ( and generally a bit slower paced), but I think it´s more a question of personal taste on my behalf than it´s a question of quality because the quality level is extremely high on Process of a New Decline. The songwriting, the musicianship and the production are all excellent and Process of a New Decline fully deserves a 4 star rating.