Review: “Somnambulant Foregoer” by Delphian

In the past when reviewing albums we’ve spoken of things that give a record a certain seal of approval before you’ve even heard a single note and in the case of the debut album from Los Angeles Californian Progressive Technical Death Metal outfit Delphian, for us at least, the presence of the man, the myth and the legend that is Kevin Talley (Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Chimaira) gracing the drum stool is exactly that. The group itself was formed by brothers Jason Williams (guitars) and Matthew Williams (vocals) while attending the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles and in addition to Talley, they’re also joined by bass wizard Martin Rygiel (Decapitated, Lux Occulta) for a record that on paper promises much with themes rooted in darkness and focusing on the evils of reality matched by the cover artwork by Travis Smith…

From the offset, “Somnambulant Foregoer” is a Groove laden Death Metal record with obvious references to the self titled album from Chimaira in the opening sandblasts of “A Suicide Speech To Persuade” and then Lamb Of God in “Devout Magisterial Form” which sees Matthew Williams harnessing his inner Randy Blythe vocally and decimating the weaker eardrums of their prospective audience. The pounding rhythms at the low end from Talley and Rygiel are the quintessential driving force behind the music providing all the low end pummelling that the Williams brothers need to strut their stuff and they do so in style throughout the whole album, Talley laying down the gauntlet almost every Death Metal drummer out there with some brilliantly timed intricate fills, bursts of blast beats and jack hammer footwork to die for. In further comparison, the darker end of Pantera stylings is also heard in “Drip Me Toward The Ground“, with those distinctive moments of “The Great Southern Trendkill” clearly influential and in Matthew Williams the band have a guitarist who is more than capable of producing the kind of technical riffage that make for instant calls to the swirling vortex of the circle pit. It maybe a while before the first solo but you can feel that not only is it on its way but it’s going to be an absolute face melter and when it does appear in “Speaking With the Shadows” its an absolute jaw dropping moment that makes it easy to forget about the lyrics and simply allow the aggression fuelled high octane of music to inject you with a lethal dose of American hatred.

Those lyrics are dark and destitute, a real gut spilling although they do at times reflect the bands name and remain deliberately obscure and ambiguous. Take the albums name as an example of that; “Somnambulant Foregoer” could mean a number of things although “A sleepwalking purveyor of the King” is one of those; but it really doesn’t matter all that much because the music is nothing short of a display of searing musicianship with classic aggressive heat bringing Metal. The album title track manages to shoehorn in a bass solo from Rygiel while the whammy bar drop in “Meanwhile, More Polemics With Kurt Gurkillis And Scud Moothers” is the chef’s kiss surrounded by riffs that defy you not to headbang or put the nearest person in a headlock and run them headfirst into traffic. It has that instantly familiar, classic feel to it while doing enough on its own it make it stand out from the pack and to that end the band need to take a bow because they’ve created something that every Metal head should want to hear. We joke not when we say that if this album had Lamb Of God’s name slapped across the cover instead of Delphian’s then it would be getting Grammy Awards. On a side note, Delphian can also be found on screen in the Mike Judge comedy, “Extract,” as the band, God’s Cock [9/10]

Track listing

1. A Suicide Speech To Persuade
2. Devout Magisterial Form
3. Drip Me Toward The Ground
4. Speaking With the Shadows
5. How I Long For The Oort Cloud
6. Somnambulant Foregoer
7. Meanwhile, More Polemics With Kurt Gurkillis And Scud Moothers
8. Idolatry
9. Dimensions Disassociated

“Somnambulant Foregoer” by Delphian is out 12th November 2021 and available for pre-order over at bandcamp