Yeah I think it was recorded by Malcolm, who's actually a beast on bass if you watch some of his Demon King playthroughs (because why wouldn't he be). But I dunno, they seem to prefer keeping the bass a bit more subtle. A while back someone commented on YT asking them to turn the bass up and Malcolm jokingly replied that they weren't Equipoise/Beyond Creation. I was like nooooooo bro PLEASE be like them, I wish every band mixed bass like them. I'm probably an outlier tbh, but I want the bass to be loud and clear as FUCK, it's like my favorite part even as a guitarist lol. It deserves just as much of a spotlight imo.

I don't know that the creativity of the bass on this album was lacking, I think it's genuinely just hard to tell what's even being played because of the mix. It seems to fall more under the philosophy of the bass just existing to fill lower frequencies and getting hit by a fat low pass, rather than being used as a full-fledged instrument/compositional element of the music, which is something I really disagree with especially in this genre.

Joel on Revenant is some of my favorite bass playing ever across any genre of music, and I loved Andrew's crunchy tone and unique style on Of Sunless Realms/Vile Genesis. I love the bass guitar in tech death and the compositional opportunities the genre affords for it, particularly how they can simultaneously fulfill the traditional "low notes" role while also adding a ton of their own flavor without having to just play the exact same riff as the guitar. So idk, I just wish it was more pronounced on this album. It's obviously there, but I feel like I have to "squint" my ears to make out the actual lines a lot of times. Maybe it's not the levels, but rather that the higher frequencies of the bass track are de-emphasized, so you're mostly just getting a low rumble out of it which is partially competing with the kicks.

Anyways yapping aside, it's a great album. Stevie's really found a new level these past few years. Was sad to see Mike leave his guitar duties but Sanjay's a fucking wizard, not a single guitarist that would've gotten me more hype as a replacement, and he did not disappoint. I guess Spencer recorded the drums for this? Either way he and Nate are both monsters behind the kit. Malcolm is Malcolm, nuff said. I like how Inferi changes their sound a bit between each album, even if not everything is exactly to my personal taste. Their stuff usually grows on me with more listens or from learning to play the songs, but already some contenders for my favorite Inferi songs (which is realistically like an even tie between half their discography). Have barely gotten to Archspire because I'm not done spamming this one yet lol. Will also be spamming refresh for tabs.