Owdwyr - Receptor

Angry Metal Guy

The “for fans of” line in any given promo is a true test of character. While most bands crank out their faves, there are intriguing blends that grab attention. Most of these are disappointments, often running the gamut of extreme metal buzzwords only to be the latest act to sound exactly like In Flames, but there are others whose combinations are pretty accurate, like the tantalizing combination that the California-based Owdwyr boasts in its debut Receptor: from Car Bomb, Human Remains, and Fleshgod Apocalypse to composers like Bach, Allan Holdsworth, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. In essence, Owdwyr may be genius or not, but this trio is always batshit crazy.

While featuring veterans from acts like Immolith, Isyou, and Dark Waters Fall, Receptor includes drummers from acts like Entheos and Animals As Leaders, Imperial Triumphant, Ne Obliviscaris, Benighted, Contrarian, and others. It is, in essence, dramatic Fleshgod-esque technical death metal caught in a Car Bomb, with Human Remains wonky grind scattered everywhere, while adaptations of (neo)classical, jazz, and Radiohead mosh on the sidewalk. Owdwyr lives up to its bonkers blend in a surprisingly coherent debut, tastefully flying off the rails one minute and landing a tastefully crushing groove the next. While detrimentally scatterbrained occasionally and clusterfucked aplenty across its slightly-too-long runtime, it’s an infectious and relentless album with nearly infinite replay value.

Receptor by OWDWYR

With technicality bordering the shadowlands between the virtuosic arpeggios of Fleshgod and the wonky randomness of Psyopus, the sweet spot between unhinged and meatheaded is the best Owdwyr has to offer. Triumphant synth-tinged blackened death riffs meet off-kilter rhythms in “The Liminal Carapace,” “Supplicant,” and closer “The Sputtering Torch,” outlined by fills of classical piano or jazzy leads. Chunky mathcore-inspired rhythms a la Car Bomb or Dysphoria dominate the vicious “Ein” and “Stench of Indemnity” and conclude with deathcore-esque beatdowns, while melodic death metal leads guide “Lagos” and “A Vessel Emerges,” and down-tuned gurgly death metal purity adds a punch to “Ripped from the Bog” and passages of “Not Afraid.” Grind attacks nearly every track with brevity and immediacy, giving especially “Writhe” and “Catalyst Sequence” a Misery Index feel. Instrumental “Reverie” is a blast, as its chord progressions and layered leads straddle the fence between the motifs of tech-death, classical, and jazz, emphasized by the sultry saxophone that creates a three-car pileup that you’ll be glad to witness. Owdwyr was wise to incorporate the features from mainly drummers, because while the percussion shifts, a strong tenet of mathcore-inspired symphonic death metal woven through every movement.

As is the case for such a whack blend of influences, Owdwyr’s reach inevitably exceeds its grasp. While the Psyopus-inspired ear-bleeding technicality is a nagging headache in transitions amid passages of “Stench of Indemnity” and “Ripped from the Bog,” the second half finds Receptor flying off the rails for a three-track span. “Cower” embraces the Psyopus technicality for its entirety, migraine-inducing in its intense shrillness, while “A Vessel Emerges” doesn’t commit to a sound and feels like a confused miscommunication until its second half, and the suddenly barked vocals and thrashy attitude of “Not Afraid” recall Upon a Burning Body’s latest in jarringly nimble riffs, slamming the brakes on the album’s momentum. In general, while Owdwyr benefits from its absolutely bonkers blend of sounds, there are so many genres and influences flying around that it can be difficult to establish what exactly their signature sound is, and Receptor can feel like a patchwork album rather than a unified whole.

Receptor is a weird ass album. It lives up to its influences in a unique blend of dramatic symphonic death metal, unpredictable mathcore, blasting grind, wailing tech-death, neoclassical, and jazz. Just typing that made me feel disoriented, which means it’s probably nausea-inducing to some of you. Nonetheless, Receptor is a solid debut from a band that ventured bravely to establish a strange blend of sounds and largely succeeded. Owdwyr lives up to its influences with a solid core that steadies them, a multi-car pileup with casualties, but you can’t help but stare and admire the beauty about it.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: owdwyr.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/owdwyr
Releases Worldwide: October 20th, 2023

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