Faster than a speeding bullet, Canada’s own Technical Death Metal beast is back in action with their most extreme and technically precise record yet.

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s not Superman! It’s Vancouver, British Columbia’s own Technical Death Metal masters Archspire, back after nearly five years with their fifth album entitled Too Fast to Die, their most extreme and technically precise record yet, following the JUNO Award–winning Bleed the Future. Produced, mixed and mastered by Dave Otero, with additional engineering by Mike Low, and displaying a killer tech death artwork by Shindy Reehal (with design and layout by Kevin Moore of Mindreader), the new offering by the unrelenting Oliver Rae Aleron on vocals, Dean Lamb and Tobi Morelli on the (fastest) guitars (on earth), Jared Smith on bass, and newcomer Spencer Moore (of bands like Oubliette, Æther Realm, Animality, and Inferi) on drums sees the band push beyond the limits of speed and precision once again, solidifying their place as one of the most relentless forces in modern heavy music.

They give us a few seconds of peace before all hell breaks loose in Liminal Cypher, with Spencer demolishing his drums manically while Oliver fires his unparalleled rap-like vocals at maximum speed and insanity. Dean and Tobi then showcase the art of shred to us mere mortals in Red Goliath, another fast and intricate display of Technical Death Metal supported by the metallic bass by Jared; and in the pulverizing Carrion Ladder let’s sing its wicked lyrics along with Oliver (“Waiting on the platform in the living elevator / Dead panning / Head pounding / Wading onto a plank without footing / Dropping while the pace of the blade is increasing / Unlocking a pounding centrifugal feeling turning whipping / Keeping me bolted while falling downward on a liquid locomotive tunneling into the ground”) amidst one of the fastest sounds ever blasted by the band, followed by Anomalous Descent, sounding beyond technical and aggressive while again presenting the first-class, undisputed guitar work by Dean and Tobi.

In The Vessel the quintet again delivers heavy music at hyper speed, with Oliver’s visceral roars matching flawlessly with the riffage, bass lines and blast beats by his bandmates. Needless to say, it should sound amazing if played live, and the same can be said about Limb of Leviticus, presenting another round of ass-kicking lyrics vociferated by Oliver (“Our limb is awake / Bow below its cleft / Reverence in its maw / Pray unto the rift / Ascend above the critical fear provoking and unrighteous men / Cower flee and hide the meek and blinded bipeds / that deny the reich of the divine appendage”) while the music is even more demented and furious than what regular Technical Death Metal could ever sound. Deadbolt the Backward proves Archspire are never tired of delivering the fastest, most complex and most insane music you’ve ever listened to, with Spencer once again stealing the spotlight with his machine gun-like beats and fills, before they end the album on a high note with their ruthless coup-de-grace, the title-track Too Fast to Die, kicking us hard in the ass with another bestial vocals performance by Oliver in a lecture in Technical Death Metal madness.

Too Fast to Die is not just one of the coolest albums of 2026, but the fact it’s fully independent also adds an extra touch of awesomeness to it. Just to give you an idea of how successful the whole campaign to record the album was, they raised nearly CAD$ 400,000 in 30 days, blowing past their goal in under 24 hours and confirming that independence was the right move. “I was actually shaking when I pressed launch,” commented Dean. “We’d never taken on something this big, and all I could think was, ‘man, I hope we don’t mess this up.’” You can show your love to those faster-than-a-bullet musicians by following them on Facebook and on Instagram, where you can keep an eye on their breathtaking live shows, by subscribing to their YouTube channel and streaming their sick creations on Spotify, and of course, by grabbing a copy of their relentless new album from BandCamp, from their US, Canada and rest of the world store, or from their Europe store. Too Fast to Die indeed represents a new chapter for Archspire, as they do not fear death at all in their quest for maximum speed. You know, once light tried to break the speed of Chuck Norris, but failed miserably. Then came Archspire.

Best moments of the album: Liminal Cypher, Carrion Ladder, Limb of Leviticus and Too Fast to Die.

Worst moments of the album: Obviously none. They’re too fast to have any bad moments.

Released in 2026 Independent

Track listing
1. Liminal Cypher 5:16
2. Red Goliath 5:01
3. Carrion Ladder 4:24
4. Anomalous Descent 4:13
5. The Vessel 4:41
6. Limb of Leviticus 5:42
7. Deadbolt the Backward 4:32
8. Too Fast to Die 5:32

Band members
Oliver Rae Aleron – vocals
Dean Lamb – guitars
Tobi Morelli – guitars
Jared Smith – bass
Spencer Moore – drums