8 ORIGIN * ANTITHESIS (Relapse)Most drug-gobbling jerks will tell you -- usually Monday morning on your voicemail -- that whatever happened, it was an accident. No hard feelings right. Well, sometimes we stumble into good deeds, like the accidental way in which I discovered the fantastically awesome Topeka death metal band Origin. Let us turn the page back to sigh the late 90s: It was a Vader (ugh) headlining show, but the main attraction for my crew (me and uh my shoes) was Cephalic Carnage in the direct support slot. I wanted to be high (not medium) for Cephalic, so I might've overdone it a bit in the alley prior to entry. At any rate, I was totally gershplunkered by the time this killer tech-grind band took the stage, lead by a shirtless, barefooted, slightly-too-intense-for-comfort frontman. When Cephalic's set came up, I had settled into a manageable buzz, but I hadn't exactly made heads or tails of that opening band's 30 minutes. Seemed cool, but it was anybody's guess. Aaand even though Cephalic Carnage then-bassist Jawsh Mullen stuck a lit joint in my mouth mid-set, I was cognizant enough to decide that if I could locate/identify my wallet, there would be a copy of CC's debut album Exploiting Disfunction with my name on it.
However. At some point, wires were crossed and I'll be goddamned if I didn't mistakenly collar that opening band's vocalist, slurring retardedly: "Fwey man. I jushwanna buy yer sheedee. You gees rehp." I looked down to see the word Origin printed across the CD and, puzzled, handed over my cash. The rest is history. After precisely nine seconds of Vader, I headed out to the street, where the Cephalic guys cut me a deal on their shit; thanks for understanding, dudes.
Which brings us to Origin's fourth album, Antithesis. Where there once was a talented but shred-obsessed band now stands a gang of genuinely progressive grinders, and thusly Antithesis is packed with actual y'know songs. Not to be all cliched, but everything ahem 'comes together' here: production, performance, songcraft, and shit-tons of sweeps. Man there is some guitar playing on this record. Sure, it's hectic from jump street (opening explosion "The Aftermath"), so don't blink, but hail satan Antithesis is not one of those what-just-happened albums. Most reviews I read lauded the vaguely Karl Sanders-inflected "Wrath of Vishnu" and spacious, fluttery finale "Antithesis" but there's nary a weak tune -- or even measure -- throughout the album's exquisite 43 minutes. Thank heavens for my drug problem.
