As perhaps the leading death metal band of this generation, it is fair to say that the influence of Blood Incantation and their meteoric rise over the past decade will be felt and seen as a reference point throughout the genre for many years to come. One such band following in their musical footsteps while slowly but surely forging their own path is Florida’s Haxprocess. After an ambitious but uneven debut in 2023 that was a bit too on the nose in terms of paying homage to their influences the band have returned with Beyond What Eyes Can See, a consistently multifaceted album that demonstrates how making progressive death metal doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the death metal part.

I really like Blood Incantation and they’re probably my favorite death metal band, so this review is absolutely no shade towards them and the fantastic, widely-appealing prog death metal (and beyond) that they continue to create the way of their own choosing. But after more time to digest the landmark in death, prog, and perhaps metal as a whole that is Absolute Elsewhere, I stand by what I said on our AOTM podcast last October in that I feel like the ’70s prog influences were a little too obvious and on the nose for a band that had been delving further into their own identity up until that point. This is a long-winded way to preface how Blood Incantation and Absolute Elsewhere are the clearest frame of reference in how I assess Beyond What Eyes Can See. With this album the roles Blood Incantation and Haxprocess fill are a bit reversed; the latter’s debut The Caverns of Duat was clearly an answer to the question “what if Opeth played Florida death metal?” whereas this new album may provide an answer to where Blood Incantation might’ve gone had they continued in a more solidly death metal direction.

Beyond What Eyes Can See consists of four extended tracks that see Haxprocess journey through a variety of death metal techniques — dizzying technical riffs, slower chugging grooves, effects-laden guitar solos, and plenty of pinch harmonics throughout — with a momentum that continuously pushes forward. While there is often a flurry of riffs arranged in quick succession, some of the most interesting sections on the album are when the band ruminates on a single idea. Take the latter half of opener “Where Even Stars Die” and its slow start-and-stop jam that could easily lose steam and fall apart; Haxprocess keep you anticipating each coming note and change in the groove with bated breath, until it explodes into a flurry of blast beats and massive chords. A good chunk of “The Confines of the Flesh” builds upon a bouncy, syncopated, pseudo-thrash riff, although the band are keen to keep things well within the death metal realm… this characterizes the entirety of the album.

Aside from the compositional aspects of Beyond What Eyes Can See, the focus on the death metal part of progressive death metal is kept in check by the fantastic production that makes sure every pinch harmonic squeal hits as hard as the first time you heard them as a fledgling metalhead, in tandem with the fantastic drum sound (and performance) that similarly emphasizes each and every evolving groove. The almost dueling guitar and drums — soon followed by some great guitar/bass harmonizing — on the first extended instrumental break of “Sepulchral Void” is one of the cooler moments here, especially when followed by some near-blackened blast beats, rasps, and a wall of chords. On top of the constantly shifting sections, the progressive elements reveal themselves in the handful of more atmospheric, clean guitar break sections. “Thy Inner Demon Seed” is an essential listen in this regard with the way the guitars alternate between the left and right channels in a deliciously ASMR fashion. And while few and far between, moments of more melodic riffs and harmonies (particularly on the bookend tracks) provide a welcome respite from the chunky, pinch harmonic heavy riffage that defines Beyond What Eyes Can See.

Despite their relative newness as a band and apparent youth of several of their members (mastermind Lothar Mallea is only 21 per Encyclopedia Metallum) Haxprocess prove that the old school death metal sound filtered through a progressive lens remains alive and well, even if Blood Incantation have stolen the spotlight (and possibly changed the game in the process, only time will tell) and a lot of us may be focusing attention on the dissonant and more avant-garde ends of the genre nowadays. Despite the proggy tendencies that are a constant throughout, Beyond What Eyes Can See is a death metal album through and through. After such a big jump in quality and identity from their debut, the future is looking pretty bright for this new marker of quality death metal going forward.

— Colin

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Beyond What Eyes Can See will be available July 25 through Transcending Obscurity Records. For more information on Haxprocess, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.