About.com Rating

Anyone familiar with Watchtower and Spastic Ink will certainly know the name Ron Jarzombek. His latest all-instrumental technical death metal supergroup, Blotted Science, includes Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse, Hate Eternal) and drummer Hannes Grossmann (ex-Necrophagist, Obscura).

Jarzombek is revered among guitar shredding circles, but is somewhat of an anonymous player when it comes to the mainstream.


Blotted Science’s latest EP and second release overall, The Animation Of Entomology, will certainly give him his deserved status as a premier guitar player. There are lots of blistering tremolo picking and flying arpeggios, but with just the right amount of tempo changes and variations of mood and atmosphere.

The Animation Of Entomology is actually four tracks with the last track, “A Sting Operation,” consisting of four parts. The songs are complex, intricate and intensely technical, yet very enjoyable and challenging. The album clocks in at 24 minutes and the music depicts science and gore. The theme of the album is the thought of being killed by bugs, hence the album cover art. It was produced and mixed by Jarzombek, and it has a crisp and textural tone.

The CD's opener “Ingesting Blattaria” is a whirlwind of guitar wizardry. The tone and emotion are furious with jazz-like segments, crunchy riffs and thunderous double bass. There’s plenty of intricate drum fills, rolling bass lines and a plethora of Jarzombek’s insane guitar leads.

The patterns and progressions transition nicely through each song. Even without lyrics, the theme and story line is laid out instrumentally within the listener’s head.

The Animation Of Entomology has everything a guitar-shredding instrumental CD would have to offer. Jarzombek’s technical aspects, along with his emotional delivery, give the CD an easy outlet for the listeners and doesn’t just bombard them with guitar wankery. The rhythm section of Webster and Grossmann shouldn’t be undersold either, as they prove they are more than capable of creating a different type of metal away from their “day job” gigs.

(released October 4, 2011 through Eclectic Electric)

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