WARP ZONE

"Warp Zone" is the second full-length studio album by Canadian, Quebec based technical death metal act Martyr. The album was originally independently released in March 2000, but it was picked up by Sekhmet Records in 2002 for a label release. It´s the successor to "Hopeless Hopes" from 1997 and there has been one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer François Richard has been replaced by Patrice Hamelin. The usual suspects are brothers Daniel Mongrain (rhythm and lead guitar, clean vocals) and François Mongrain (bass guitar, growling vocals), and guitarist Pier-Luc Lampron.

While Martyr are still influenced by the mid-90s technical death metal style of Death (the band), "Warp Zone" sees them forging a style which is more their own. They have also started to incorporate some jazz/fusion influences (primarely in the Holdsworth influenced guitar solos and the occasional ethereal atmospheric moment) and compared to "Hopeless Hopes" it´s just obvious that Martyr have honed their playing skills and have strengthened the mastery of their compositional ideas. "Warp Zone" also features what "Hopeless Hopes" didn´t and that´s a professional, powerful, and well sounding production job. "Warp Zone" is therefore a both well produced, well perfomed, and well composed release.

When that is said the material aren´t particularly memorable even after many listens, which is a bi-product of the complexity of the songwriting and "Warp Zone" sometimes feels like an album loaded with potential, which isn´t quite fulfilled. The sum of the parts simply isn´t as great as the parts themselves. It´s however still a highly recommendable release if you´re a fan of technical death metal in the more sophisticated end of the spectrum (Death, Sadist, Cynic, and Pestilence). A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).