Gorod

With technical death metal, there's a fine line between guitar shredding for the sake of applying texture to a song and self-masturbatory showing off. After listening to Process of a New Decline a few times, it's difficult to determine what category the French quintet fall under. This album is an adventurous ride but also serves as a warning as to what can happen when there's too much experimentation, like on "Programmers of Decline," which is a schizophrenic, unfortunate mess. Their third full-length veers away from the more traditional death sensibilities of 2006's Leading Vision, taking the word "progressive" to a whole new level, with liberal doses of awesome groove riffage, jazz breakdowns and on "The Path," there's even a bit of Southern boogie, courtesy of new drummer Sam Santiago. Standout tracks like the straightforward "A Common Hope" overshadow their misses, such as "Gilded Cage," which doesn't do this band, or their amazing new drummer, justice.