From the brilliant creators of Terminate Damnation, a brand new work of magnificence has spawned. Returning to once again marry slow and fast, organization and chaos, tenderness and brutality, Becoming The Archetype presents a well unified collection of eleven fresh pieces on their May 8th release, The Physics Of Fire.

The musical style of the new album remains close to the previous release, crossing through a variety of time signatures and once again brimming with a stunning blend of drum fills, double bass, guitar solos, and classical keyboard. Though still wholly rich in power, Jason Wisdom's vocals could have possibly begotten even more impact with the use of more inflection rather than remaining generally monotone throughout. The welcomed addition of guitarist/singer Alex Kenis adds a lot of contrast with his quality clean vocals though, and is the biggest step forward from their Solid State Records debut.

Sparked by "Epoch of War," the record commences with gentle strings and breaks into slow heavy metal before jolting to a blistering metal bass rhythm and pressing forward into a catchy screaming vs. singing chorus. The absolutely brutal "Autopsy" speeds through blast beats and raging guitar until climaxing with thundering bass and roars of "Set me on fire!." The enjoyable instrumental interlude "Nocturne" begins gently with piano and bass, slowly building with percussion until coming in heavy with the electric guitar. The bulk of the album resides in complex, aggressive death metal, but the musical contrast with grace is sustained and formulates engaging masterpieces. It closes with the extremely significant, over 8 minutes long epic "Balance Of Eternity," which supremely ends this breathtaking metal exertion.

The verses of the songs are appreciably very spiritually explicit and easily understood once again, bearing a central theme of fire. "The Great Fall," "Fire Made Flesh," "Epoch of War," and "Balance of Eternity" make a four song lyrical story sequence depicting how the fire of God frees our souls from the icy grip of Hell, ending with these victorious lines, "When the mountains crumble into the sea / when the stars fall from the heavens and scorch the earth / Then every knee will bow before the flame / And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord forever." Major subject matter is prayer, praise, and salvation. The very dark "Second Death" expresses the laments of an unsaved soul eternally encased in ice, but the majority of the songs dwell on positivity which is quite unique in the metal genre, "One fire burns within my soul / consuming all of the doubt in my mind / infusing my soul with purpose again," "There is none that can stand against, stand against the power of fire."

This is a very professionally written and executed project. The level of skill demonstrated by each member of the band is highly impressive. The Physics Of Fire is among the most phenomenal records in its category and is destined to delight the ears of each metal listener captured.

- Review date: 5/5/07, written by Tim Harro