For as long as I’ve been doing these reviews, the concept of evolution is something that I love coming back around to. When a band manages to truly embody that concept and all the difficulties that come with bringing it about in a compelling form, it can effortlessly make for a performance that feels downright fascinating to bear witness to. Time is oftentimes a key factor for proper evolution to take place, but it means nothing if passion and talent are not prevalent as well. When they came around with their first album five years ago, The Scalar Process showed all of them alongside great promise. Now, with their second offering, they’re capitalizing on everything they laid forth in that foundational work.

A creation such as this is what many bands strive to achieve in some form or another. By all accounts, the very core of technical death metal that The Scalar Process very clearly brought in their debut has been preserved masterfully throughout all ten of these tracks, but it’s in damn near every way that we witness this French act expand its repertoire to become something ethereal and incorporeal as well as a beast of writhing intensity. For all that “Agnomysticism” brings to the table, there is irrefutable beauty mixed into the immensely calculated brutality. Both have a tremendous push-and-pull, yin-and-yang dynamic that allows the record to truly breathe in a way far too many works of genre fail to reach. Alongside captivating atmospheres that offer great light to beset the encroaching darkness that The Scalar Process holds complete dominion over, it’s here that our eyes are ripped open to a band seizing its very destiny in magnificent fashion. Here, we’re given technical death metal that does not take itself too seriously but never once allows itself to miss an opportunity for neither splendor nor majesty as The Scalar Process more than comes into its own with this expansive creation.

Where its predecessor gave us quite a solid glimpse as to what this band can bring to the table, “Agnomysticism” is a tremendous showcasing of growth in all areas with The Scalar Process offering more than enough proof that they are a force not to be reckoned with. This genre has always had tons of potential from hungry acts all over the world, and if it wasn’t already the case that The Scalar Process held a place in that conversation then it is with every given facet of “Agnomysticism” that the act more than earns its place.

“Agnomysticism” releases on May 29th via Transcending Obscurity Records!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Agnomysticism” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE The Scalar Process on Facebook here.

FOLLOW The Scalar Process on Instagram here.