Straight from banks of the filthy-as-fuck Detroit River, Windsor, Ontario, four piece THE APEX bring a raw technical death attack on a Meshuggah/Dillinger Escape Plan tip to their brief but uncompromisingly brutal debut CD. Years of hard-earned road experience via past/present member tenures in CLOSED CASKET FUNERAL and CORRUPTED LEADERS (among numerous others) playing alongside heavyweights like DESPISED ICON and CEPHALIC CARNAGE saturate this hard-hitting rookie release with veteran swag. Raw, MIDI-free (apart from several choice samples) and chock full of fuck-you Stab City grit, this confident, vibrant independent offering is one of 2015’s top Canadian debuts thus far.
Recorded at The Shark Tank in Southwestern Ontario, THE APEX eschew triggers and backing tracks in favour of a refreshingly organic sound that gives much-needed analogue punch to the low end. Guttural, throat searing howls cut through an ever-shifting chaotic riff-morass, somehow reigning this relentless sonic maelstrom into a fearsome, predatory battle beast battalion. End to end listening is almost impossible to resist once snared by the violent undertow of passionate destruction in the wake of THE APEX’s noose-tight tsunami; every cut is a standout, and at only slightly over 29 minutes, this album leaves little room for listener to breathe before it’s suddenly over.
Currently on tour across Ontario (along with GTA deathcore up-and-comers ALLIES TO THE ADVERSARY), THE APEX have really put their meathooks into their first album, tearing out all the fresh blood and bile they can from a well-butchered creative carcass. In the process they carve out a solid, substantive beginning to what promises to be a wild and (hopefully) long career. Keep watching these cats and check ’em out live – they will happily fillet any lingering doubt right to the marrow.
