Official press release:
Profound Lore Records today announces the eponymous third album from New York City death metal group Artificial Brain, confirming the record for release June 3rd, and unveiling its cover art, track listing, preorders, and lead single, “Celestial Cyst”.
Drawing frequent comparisons to mind-altering progressive death metal acts, Artificial Brain has distinguished themselves from their peers through an emphasis on rich, melancholic, melodic figures, contextualizing the harmonic and emotive qualities of black metal within a more aggressive death metal framework. Dissonance is threaded through elegiac, otherworldly chordal structures; saturnine tremolo melodies float along in the high registers of the instruments; guitars and bass traverse distinct paths before locking into harmonic orbit. These elements, anchored by blast beats and bellowing guttural vocals, create a sense of contrast that has come to characterize the band’s sound over the past decade.
The group’s final recording with original vocalist Will Smith (Afterbirth), Artificial Brain is the terminal instalment in a trilogy that includes 2014’s Labyrinth Constellation and 2017’s Infrared Horizon. Smith’s lyrics on this eponymous LP take a retrospective look at the sci-fi mythology developed on the previous records, using these ideas to explore themes of isolation, madness, and the inexorability of nature. Rounding out the recording is an impressive roster of guest performers, including death metal legends Mike Browning (Nocturnus A.D.) and Luc Lemay (Gorguts) as well as long time collaborators Paulo Paguntalan (Miasmatic Necrosis) and Colin Marston (Krallice).
Artificial Brain’s guitars, bass, and vocals were tracked remotely by the members over the course of 2021, while the drums were recorded by Finn Jansen at Lava Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. The album was mixed and mastered by Colin Marston at The Thousand Caves in Queens, New York, and features artwork by Adam Burke with layout by Chimère Noire.
Stream the first single from Artificial Brain’s eponymous LP, the decimating “Celestial Cyst” below.
Artificial Brain will be released on CD, cassette, and all digital platforms on June 3rd, with the LP expected to ship by early July. Find pre-orders through Profound Lore right here.
Artificial Brain track listing:
- “Artificial Brain”
- “Glitch Cannon”
- “Celestial Cyst”
- “A Lofty Grave”
- “Tome Of The Exiled Engineer”
- “Embalmed With Magma”
- “Parasite Signal”
- “Cryogenic Dreamworld”
- “Insects And Android Eyes”
- “Last Words Of The Wobbling Sun”
Artificial Brain (album lineup):
Dan Gargiulo – guitar
Oleg Zalman – guitar
Jon Locastro – guitar, saxophone
Samuel Smith – bass, synthesizer
Keith Abrami – drums
Will Smith – vocals