Synopsis:

Yet another unsigned gem deserving of a record deal.

Review:

Though only three songs, this demo from Australia’s Sword Toward Self shows just tons of promise within the progressive technical death metal genre to warrant anyone interested in creative songwriting and tremendous skill.

Plying a backbone of later era Death and latter Pestilence with an ample mix of Opeth-ian clean/ heavy textures and a bit of a black metal vocal vibe, this is filled with lots of great solos. Exhausted Prayer or Scholomance comes to mind, but that’s a broad brush stroke as Sword Toward Self are actually quite hard to pigeon hole, but excellent seems to cover most of it.

Each of the four professional quality tracks demonstrates a grasp of both recognized death/black metal dynamics and enough adventurous injections to make it break from the pack. It features the stunning solo work of Phil Brown which litters each song with breathtaking arpeggios and classically tinted fret work that’s way above the usual death/ black metal squawk. The six string bass work of Henry Lauer is also of note, plucking along with Tony Choy with skill and professional delivery.

While all three tracks are superb, the first track “Sword Toward Self” and third track “Iridescent Wings of the Ungods,” got my attention because of their changes in mood and pace, whereas “Regress/Regret,” while featuring a killer solo is a bit more singular in its pace and tone.

I’m reminded of Martriden’s 2007 demo with this, as far as a short but stunning death metal demo from a surprising source; a demo that ultimately landed them a deal with Candlelight, and hopefully Sword Toward Self will find themselves in the same boat, as they are absolutely worth any label’s investment.