New York City’s THÆTAS have never been interested in taking the easy route. Their music twists through dissonance, technical precision, brutal death metal violence, and avant-garde weirdness with the confidence of a band that knows exactly how far off the map it wants to travel.
Today, guitarist Patrick Hawkins answers a question close to every death metal obsessive’s heart:
What’s your pick for the most underrated death metal band in the world? Which album by them would you recommend?
“A band that never got enough attention for me was AKAKOR, an instrumental death/grind outfit out of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Their only album (self-titled) came out years after the band was actually active so I guess that’s how the cookie crumbles, but it still holds up and is worth a listen or ten. This is the good type of technical music – completely unhinged and unpredictable but also well composed and actually really catchy at times. It’s a wild ride and goes great with a couple Ceasers [the national drink of Canada….yeah, really].”
That’s exactly the kind of recommendation this series lives for: a forgotten underground gem, discovered somewhere between technical insanity and a few Canadian cocktails.
Now, speaking of technical insanity…
THÆTAS return with “Stretched Paradox”, the second glimpse into their long-awaited sophomore album The Irredeemable Age, arriving June 26 through Profound Lore Records.
Five years removed from their devastating debut Shrines To Absurdity, the New Yorkers sound even more dangerous.
Where many technical death metal bands disappear into endless displays of virtuosity, THÆTAS remain obsessed with the riff. Their songs feel alive, constantly mutating, lurching from brutal grooves into angular dissonance, from labyrinthine technical passages into moments of genuine atmosphere. The chaos never feels random; every strange turn seems carefully designed to drag the listener deeper into the void.
“Stretched Paradox” embodies that philosophy perfectly. Brutal death metal forms the skeleton, but the flesh is something far stranger. Dissonant melodies coil around crushing rhythms, structures bend in unexpected directions, and the entire track moves with the unstable energy of something trying to tear itself apart while remaining perfectly intact.
The upcoming The Irredeemable Age promises nine tracks of obsessive, off-kilter extremity, refining everything that made THÆTAS such a unique force on their debut while pushing further into bizarre and unexplored territory. Mixed and mastered by Colin Marston, the album sounds every bit as twisted as its creators intended.
For fans of technical death metal that values imagination as much as brutality, THÆTAS continue to stand in a league of their own.
Some bands write riffs.
THÆTAS build entire impossible worlds out of them.
THÆTAS BandCamp: https://thaetas.bandcamp.com/album/the-irredeemable-age
Band’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdp2VHFfXdY9AKmEK45DDpQ
Band’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/THAETAS/
