Time was, France was where rock music went to die; sure, they had Magma (and Metal Urbain, to be generous), but other than that it was Johnny Hallyday and the inexplicably beloved Serge Gainsbourg.

Well, in recent years, France has exported a basketload of awesome bands, from Gojira to Deathspell Omega, and Gorod definitely belongs on that list.

This technical/progressive death metal band has released two prior discs on the Willowtip label, and this one features more of their trademark liquid, jazz fusion basslines; crisp drumming; and ultra-repetitive, high-pitched guitar arpeggios.

The vocals are the usual death growls, and the lyrics are probably about nothing, but the guitar solos and those just-this-side-of-maddening guitar passages are what people come to Gorod for, and they deliver in spades.

Some of these songs even verge on catchy, a major achievement in tech-death all by itself.

Highly recommended to fans of Atheist, Cynic, Death, Decrepit Birth, Necrophagist, Obscura, Psycroptic, et al.