Back in the early 90's, you know, the glory days of death metal, we were soaking our ears in the sounds of Cynic, Atheist, and Pestilence, all bands that were blazing some brave new paths in death metal by connecting brutal DM with fusion jazz, forming a new branch of progressive death metal that set the standard for the genre. Since the early 90's, there aren't that many bands that have come close to matching the technicality and jazz chops of those seminal bands, but Alarum are one of the few that have totally knocked our socks off with some of the most brain-frying death/fusion we've ever heard. Yikes! Eventuality is as good as progressive jazz-infused death metal can get, and it quickly became a classic release within the realm of tech/death.
Alarum's penchant for Cynic worship is still heavily in place, with plenty of energetic riffing and tightly knit alternate picking patterns with lots of intricately woven layers of guitar parts and basslines that could've easily been at home on Focus, not to mention some of the more ethereal textures and clean passages, but their songwriting has definitely become more diverse and creative over the years. They are obviously influenced heavily by the forerunners of technical/progressive death metal like Cynic and Atheist, but I'm hearing just a heavy influence of jazz fusion musicians like Allan Holdsworth and Chick Corea...the solos on Eventuality are off the chart, super fluid,jazzy,melodic playing that blows us away every time we hear it. Essential for tech heads, especially anyone into Athiest and Cynic !!