Tech-Death Dynamos OWDWYR have released two playthrough videos for tracks from recently released, critically acclaimed debut album, Receptor. A drum playthrough video, featuring Alex Cohen performing “Ripped from the Bog,” is available at youtu.be/nFU3yDxyHlo. Bassist Chris Williams performs on the playthrough video for “Lagos” at youtu.be/hBUwG3iDo5s.
OWDWYR, an extreme metal convergence of Tech Death, Prog, and Grind framed around a Classical core, released Receptor on
October 20. The album is available on CD, vinyl, and digital formats.
“Sitting at the meeting point between death metal, modern prog and grindcore, Receptor is a beefy, technical album that never lets up.”
– Decibel Magazine
“Album of the year? It’s going to be very hard to find something that
can top this.”
– Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life
“It is, in essence, dramatic Fleshgod-esque technical death metal caught in a Car Bomb, with Human Remains wonky grind scattered everywhere, while adaptations of (neo)classical, jazz, and Radiohead mosh on the sidewalk.”
– Angry Metal Guy
“A thoroughly head-spinning spectacle, so intricate, so elaborate, so stylistically kaleidoscopic, and so packed with unpredictable contrasts that carefully dissecting what happens from moment to moment, if that were even possible, would detract from the abundant thrills of the experience.”
– No Clean Singing
“A death metal band that lurches to both ends of the style, both the Ur-progressive and technical as well as the blasty, slammy, grindy wings. My god I can’t believe they are real.”
– Consequence
“Hyper-technical death metal flourishes under tight time constraints, a notion that OWDWYR understands well, as even though Receptor is clearly a tech death album, it exists in grindcore’s framework, meaning it’s brief,
punchy, and eclectic.”
– Invisible Oranges
“Do you like your death metal weird? Then you’ll love this album!” (9/10)
– Metal Digest
“While tech-prog is certainly the centrepiece of OWDWYR’s sound, Receptor is also a refreshingly varied affair—openly pulling from jazz fusion guitarists, classical composers and Radiohead in its arrangements, and even verging into early-Meshuggah-esque tech-thrash territory come its conclusion.”
– Heavy Blog is Heavy
“Owdwyr are the band Meshuggah wish they were.”
– Ever Metal
“Receptor shines because it manages to combine all of these extreme elements into a jazzy, classically influenced package while keeping it brutal. An incredibly balanced and refined effort.” (8.5/10)
– Dead Rhetoric
“Receptor is a wild ride with very few missteps, and one that sits easy alongside Gridlink’s Coronet Juniper amongst the best that the grind-sphere has to offer in 2023.”
– Metal Storm
“Wow, OWDWYR ‘s debut with ‘Receptor’ is of great manufacture!” (9/10)
– Metallerium Webzine
“Owdwyr’s music is a riot of violence and exploratory brutality. It’s a 44-minute sophisticated wrecking ball.”
– Wonderbox Metal
“You can’t exactly call the album dynamic, because that’s not enough to even scratch the surface of how to describe it. It’s unpredictable. It’s sharp turn after sharp turn. But more importantly, and surprisingly, it works.”
– The Razors Edge
“Receptor offers an intense listening experience for fans of tech death, prog and grindcore.”
– Amplified Magazine
Stream/Purchase:
owdwyr.bandcamp.com/album/receptor
open.spotify.com/album/7F5gViLG7Tc4OxF7Fl6DTJ
Guitarist and composer Paul Plumeri, Jr. (ex-Isyou), joined by bassist Chris Williams (Dark Waters Fall) and vocalist Max Lichtman (ex-Immolith), founded OWDWYR in 2020.
Receptor offers 15 tracks that explore a spectrum of influences ranging from Car Bomb, Human Remains, and Fleshgod Apocalypse to J.S. Bach, Allan Holdsworth, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Receptor features appearances by some of the most skilled and crushing musicians in modern metal, including Navene Koperweis (Entheos, ex-Animals as Leaders), Kenny Grohowski (Imperial Triumphant, John Zorn), Kevin Paradis (Ne Obliviscaris, Benighted), Alex Cohen (Contrarian, ex-Pyrrhon), and many more. With blistering blastbeats, intricate harmonic counterpoint, and ferocious vocals, OWDWYR has crafted a dynamic musical experience that demands attention and never relents.
FFO: Fleshgod Apocalypse, Car Bomb, Human Remains, and early-Between the Buried and Me
Track Listing:
1. Praefatio
2. The Liminal Carapace
3. Ripped from The Bog
4. Stench of Indemnity [Visualizer Video]
5. Lagos [Official Video]
6. Ein [Official Video]
7. Writhe
8. Supplicant
9. Reverie
10. Cower
11. A Vessel Emerges
12 Not Afraid
13. Pitchtongue Vesper
14. Catalyst Sequence
15. The Sputtering Torch
Unless noted otherwise (see below), all songs composed by Paul Plumeri with lyrics by Max Lichtman.
“Praefatio/The Liminal Carapace” – Adapted from “Fratres” written by Arvo Pärt. Arranged by Paul Plumeri.
“Reverie” – Bridge adapted from “Zone” written by Allan Holdsworth from the album All Night Wrong. Arranged by Paul Plumeri.
“Supplicant” – 2nd half adapted from “Daydreaming” written by Radiohead from the album Moon Shaped Pool. Arranged by Paul Plumeri.
“Pitchtongue Vesper” – Adapted from “Etude No. 12” written by Heitor Villa Lobos. Arranged by Paul Plumeri.
“The Sputtering Torch” – Adapted from “Torch” written by Brian Lawlor from the album The Incidental Purge. Arranged by Paul Plumeri
Mixed by AJ Viana at AJ Viana Productions.
Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music.
Vocals recorded by Fox DeVaughn at Studio D.
Logo, album art, and layout by Garek Druss.
Band Members:
Paul Plumeri Jr. – Guitars, Composition, and Programming
Chris Williams – Bass
Max Lichtman – Vocals and Lyrics
Additional Performances:
Kenny Grohowski – Drums on The Liminal Carapace, Lagos, Reverie, Supplicant, A Vessel Emerges, Pitchtongue Vesper
Navene Koperweis – Drums on Stench of Indemnity, Catalyst Sequence, Cower
Kevin Paradis – Drums on Ein, Not Afraid, The Sputtering Torch
Alex Cohen – Drums on Ripped from the Bog, Writhe, A Vessel Emerges
Frank Albanese – Additional vocals on Cower, A Vessel Emerges
Ed RosenBerg III – Saxophone on Lagos, Cower
Sydney Kjerstad – Piano on Ein