Vancouver, Canada’s technical death metallers Exterminatus have unleashed their third full-length album, Echoes From A Distant Star Part 1, released April 18, 2025, as a self-produced independent effort. Formed in 2013, the band—guitarist/vocalist Tabreez Azad, guitarist Elia Baghbaniyan, lead vocalist Luka Bresan, drummer Max Sepulveda, and bassist Lucas Abreu—delivers a cosmic saga that blends ferocious riffs, intricate drum patterns, and haunting atmospheres. Available on CD and digital formats, the album is streaming on Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music, with physical orders at exterminatus.bandcamp.com.
Echoes From A Distant Star Part 1 is an eight-track journey through a sci-fi narrative inspired by Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Stargate SG-1, and Mass Effect. Exploring themes of universal creation, simulation theory, and temporal causality loops, the album kicks off with the turbulent “Cosmic Disturbance” and weaves through brutal tracks like “Primordial Sea” and “Starbound,” before closing with a tongue-in-cheek tech-death cover of Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus.”
Recorded, mixed, and engineered by Sepulveda at The Beat Lab, with mastering by Zack Ohren (Castle Ultimate Productions), the album showcases Exterminatus’ technical prowess—Bresan’s layered growls, Azad and Baghbaniyan’s stereo guitar assault, Abreu’s slinky bass, and Sepulveda’s lightspeed drums. Mark Cooper’s striking artwork encapsulates the cosmic horror, with orchestrations by Matt Sippola adding eerie depth. Key tracks include “Cosmic Disturbance” (with a music video), “The Signal,” and “Primordial Sea” (both with lyric videos), highlighting the album’s narrative intensity.
Tracklist:
- Cosmic Disturbance
- Primordial Sea
- Starbound
- Suffer In Silence
- The Cloud
- New Theia
- The Signal
- Rock Me Amadeus (Falco cover, bonus)
Since their 2013 debut Veni Vidi Vici, Exterminatus has evolved from raw aggression to a refined blend of technical, progressive, and melodic death metal, drawing comparisons to Archspire, Decapitated, and The Faceless. Their live shows at Armstrong Metalfest and Loud As Hell Festival, plus collaborations with Andrew Baena and Dean Lamb, have solidified their reputation. At a brisk 30 minutes, Echoes avoids filler, delivering “non-stop brutality” (Amplify the Noise) with a focus on heavy, chunky riffs and minimal prog detours. For fans of cosmic-themed tech death, this is a stellar milestone—dive in and brace for Part 2!