Hierarchies “Hierarchies”

Label: Transcending Obscurity · Year: 2025

Existentially tormented guitar riffs, avant-garde jazz-inspired notational gaps, and sudden pitch and rhythm changes seem to be the core elements shaping this band’s overall sound. Their style is technical death metal, but they’ve also labelled themselves as avant-garde—likely due to the characteristics I just mentioned.

A few riffs even took me back to the mind-bending masterpieces of the late Steeve Hurdle(R.I.P.) and Luc Lemay’s Obscura. The pitch shifts present in that album can also be found here. I suppose the closest comparison for this band would be a continuation of Gorguts – Obscura. That said, I’m making this comparison mainly for old-school death metal fans to instantly get the idea—because in reality, Hierarchies doesn’t sound too much like Gorguts; they’ve clearly tried to carve out their own style.

Personally, I wasn’t blown away, but it’s nice I’ll give them a few more chances over time. Fans of technical avant-garde underground death metal should find plenty to enjoy here.