Yeah…remember when I mentioned DBC as a sonic touchstone when I reviewed the Demoniac album? That really should have been applied to Altered Realities, the debut from Oslo’s Sovereign. Echoing the best of late 80s, early 90s technical death/thrash, it’s a marvel of a metal record, so good that even though I caught really late in the year it made my overall end of year list. A little DBC, a little Leprosy-era Death and you have the makings of my favorite kind of album. 100% technicality tied with 100% groove and 100% badass cover art, making for 500% of pre metal glory, if my math is right…

Altered Realities immediately opens with a juggernaut, the seven minute title track, and it’s an encapsulation of everything Sovereign will hit you with over the ensuing 40 minutes. The cymbal hits are crazy, sitting high in the mix between the locomotive strength riffs and the bass bouncing with a high, dry tone that sounds like a steel string about to snap. Keyboards are present for a certain level of ambiance, but that’s it – this is a guitar workout; if there’s any noodling to be done it’ll done by lead guitarist Tommy Jacobsen, thank you. The rest of the band is similarly on fire: bassist/vocalist Simen Røher Grong, aka Gravskjender sounds like he’s gargling sand his voice and bass are so dry, and drummer Cato Syversrud is a demon on the kit, the drums micc’d perfectly to capture every crash and bang without taking up all the room for the bass. Meanwhile rhythm guitarist Vidar Fineideath lays down riff after technical riff I can’t help but think Lord Schuldiner is chuckling from his grave.

The rest of Altered Realities sticks firmly in that technical death lane. You can definitely hear these songs sit alongside tracks from early Death – “Futile Dream” could sit anywhere on Spiritual Healing if it had James Murphy sharing a lead. The mechanical shred of “Counter Tech” has some of that repetitive DBC vibe I crave, and when that shifts to the incredible “The Enigma of Intelligence” with its constant shifts I’m in heaven. It’s my favorite track on an album where every single song could sit in that position.

Sovereign’s ambition is solidified by the the time of the album’s closing track, the 10-minute opus “Absence of Unity” and I’m left floored. This is so very much in my wheelhouse, and coming after the fun of the Demoniac album I can see why I really liked that album but love this one. I’ll leave this one here so I can get cracking on tomorrow’s entry, but if early technical death is your thing, you cannot sleep on Altered Realities – it’s a beaut.