Do you enjoy no nonsense, riff filled death metal? Do you like sub bass drops and beat downs? Do you also believe that the ruling class of the world is made up of scaly, lizard people? Well, even if you only answered yes to the first two questions, you will almost definitely enjoy the devilishly wholesome offerings of Brisbane’s Reptilian Civilian. Five guys hanging out and playing sick death metal with plenty of tech and slam, these chaps deliver on the promise of every tag you’ll find their music under on Bandcamp. Slamming brutal technical deathcore with a global conspiracy theme? Yes, this will be fine.
Get your head round the Lizard overlord, Flat Earth themes and lyrics and just beyond them is some incredibly playful music on recent release It’s Impossible That Reptilians Don’t Exist. There are so many riffs and shifts that I’d stretch to Alaska-era BTBAM and Protest The Hero comparisons, but a lot less grandiose and more, garage band. Obviously. “Mokele Mbembe” has some traditional technical death flair but flits between the riffs and shots fired with the kind of ease that both those bands are/were famous for. The pre-breakdown breakdown is all kinds of heft but slithers perfectly into the actual coupe de grace.
Doesn’t feel like shit stuck together at random either, unlike a notable deathcore release that we may have covered very recently. “Genesis” even dips into Born of Osiris or After The Burial territory between hardcore beatdowns and slamming riffs. All without seeming forced. This is why I’m clinging on to their Bandcamp tags so much. They’ve got that pseudo brutal death style deathcore (Vulvodynia without the gore) just as much as the wanky guitar riffing (Rings of Saturn but actually still kinda of ‘core).
Unlike this train wreck of ideas, Reptilian Civilian keep the slapstick influences flowing in and out of their music. It’s still groove and tech orientated but the sound is still very much “let’s write a thousand riffs that we can just keep making heavier”. This can be heard on their first, much rougher around the edges demo Sons of Annunaki. The general feel of the songs is much and such the same, but it’s clear that these are first cuts. It has a certain charm though, kinda. Best to just listen to more of the new EP though, it won’t spoil the fantasy that you’re listening to some groundbreaking extreme music. It’s not really breaking ground of course, but at the very least you should feel something from the bass drops and silly, almost unnecessary amount of twists and turns. Just remember, the Earth is flat and your boss is definitely, 100% a lizard.