Styles: technical death metal, melodic death metal, progressive death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Inferi, Persefone, The Black Dahlia Murder
Country: United States
Release date: 10 April 2026

---

At the start of 2025, like anyone who applies to join The Subway, I submitted a test review. The album was The Hive Mind Chronicles, Pt. 1: Parasitica, the debut LP from the Denver-based tech death act Exuvial. I distinctly remember writing that review on a plane, flying from Los Angeles to the East Coast. While mentally parsing Exuvial’s winding riffs and trying to put my thoughts to paper to pass the time at 30,000 feet, I had no idea The Subway would become such a meaningful little part of my life. Well, fifteen months, nearly sixty reviews, and a bunch of friendships later, I’m back at 30,000 feet—again flying from Los Angeles to the East Coast, reviewing another debut LP from a Denver-based tech death band. Serendipitous indeed. 

The album in question is Tethys’ The Antikytherium, and it sports a particularly melodic brand of technical death metal, drawing on melodeath tropes while peppering in some prog and -core flair. Characterized by a dual-guitar attack and a mix of biting harsh vocals from Inferi’s Stevie Boiser and powerful cleans from guitarist Quinn Broderick, the record gives plenty to chew on over its forty-minute runtime. Beyond merely passing the time as I fly over middle America, will The Antikytherium stay with me after I disembark?

The pitfall of many tech death albums is sonic fatigue after the first twenty or so minutes: let’s be real, it’s a genre of excess, and a saturated one at that. There are only so many blasts, choppy riffs, and noodly leads a person can take before drifting off. Although not reinventing any wheels, Tethys do a good job of cycling through different textures and techniques to keep the listener engaged. An orchestral prologue and epilogue frame the album; “Suzerain” features ear-catching acoustic guitar passages, and most tracks feature prominent clean vocals to complement the harshes; bits of ambience and narration are used effectively in “Grey Matter” and “Final Necropolis”; and piano, strings, and synths make their way into several tracks. These change-ups are appreciated and well-integrated for the most part, but occasionally feel as if they’re added for variety or narrative effect rather than as natural parts of the songs. The bridges in standout tracks “Suzerain” and “Grey Matter,” for example, offer welcome changes in atmosphere but are blasted right out of without strong resolutions. On the whole, Tethys keep the songs intriguing, though the album doesn’t supply much outside the usual tech death canon. 

That said, the band do lean on melody more than most bands in the genre. The (often harmonized) guitar leads and solos that cover much of the record are liable to worm their way into the brain. And, even if a little jarring during my first listen, “Buying Time” is an unexpected yet strong, straight-up melodeath track with elevated technicality. Tethys’ guitarists clearly have a knack for writing melodies, and The Antikytherium is more memorable for it. The drums, too, make their presence known, often moving from blast beats to a more open rhythm underlyed by double bass kicked at an inhuman speed—a technique pulled from the deathcore playbook. The bass guitar, on the other hand, is chronically buried in the mix. It pops out in the occasional bit of open space and is robust enough to prevent the production from sounding thin, but otherwise is hard to track. Vocally, The Antikytherium is strong: the Boiser–Broderick combo performance is dynamic by the genre’s standards, mixing biting but expressive harshes, deeper growls, and full-bodied cleans. The harshes, however, can grate on the listener quickly, as phrases too often end with the same sustained, screechy shout. The Antikytherium also follows a narrative, apparently, but like anyone listening to tech death, I failed to pay attention to the lyrics. I’ll make the safe assumption that they tell of some eerie sci-fi tale. 

Ultimately, it’s hard to say much else about The Antikytherium. It’s a well-written, well-performed, melodic tech death album—no more, no less. If you’re a genre completionist, Tethys certainly deliver something worth checking out; or on the other end of the spectrum, if you’re a tech death neophyte and want a melody-centered, accessible entry point to the style, this is it. Although my time with The Antikytherium will likely end when my plane lands, it was plenty entertaining for the trip.

---

Recommended tracks: Suzerain, Grey Matter
You may also like: Exuvial, Carnosus, Synaptic, Buried Realm
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Tethys are:
– Sev Rivera (bass)
– Shea Broderick (drums, piano)
– Cory Medina (guitars)
– Quinn Broderick (guitars, clean vocals)
– Stevie Boiser (vocals)