Neuraxis

Live albums in general are useless. And while I’m not entirely sold that we needed a live disc from Quebec technical thrashers Neuraxis, this well-produced release — the debut of new growler Alex Leblanc, who does just fine, thank you — offers a nice overview of their career, touching on all four of the band’s solid studio albums and, yes, showing how they have progressed. From raw thrash to technical death metal, these guys tackle it all with machine-like precision. What this album proves is that the constant throughout is the band’s unwillingness to write a song that sticks with the listener (c’mon, hum a tune, I dare you). But I guess that’s not the point, because when the tunes rage as hard and solid as Neuraxis’s do, hooks aren’t part of the equation. Anyway, grab one of their studio albums or, heck, why not start with this as a nice catch-all? It sounds about as good as a studio disc and these guys don’t make mistakes.