Review: Archspire – Too Fast to Die

I haven’t always like music as extreme as Archspire.

It’s been a journey. I’ve always loved the sound of a distorted electric guitar. Drums fascinate me and I tried to learn to play the drums during a summer band camp my mother enrolled me in. Sadly, they didn’t offer drums. So for a summer, I played the trumpet.

Not very metal.

Pointless digression aside, I’ve always gravitated toward music that was a bit heavier. I want some heft and punch to what I listen to. But I had limits. Death metal and others with harsh vocals put me off. It felt like some Rubicon I was afraid to cross.

Then I started medical school.

Medical training is just metric tons of bullshit. Really, bullshit piled on horseshit, piled on shitty ass bullshit. I understand the rationale behind it, to a degree at least. But it requires some major coping mechanisms to get through with one’s sanity intact. I discovered a coping mechanism:

Heavy fucking music.

Now I embrace it. I still have limits, but most of them have been left in the past. Particularly my hang up with harsh vocals. Now I embrace the primacy of them. Extreme music is the lightning rod into which I cast my inner darkness. It brings me a sense of calm and peace.

Yes, I realize how oxymoronic that seems. Whatever. There’s data to support that idea.

Still, there are some extremes that are, well, really fucking extreme. Archspire is one of those. They came to my attention with their 2107 album Relentless Mutation. It was a level of speed and sonic insanity I hadn’t previously experienced. They followed up with 2021’s Bleed the Future.

Despite its extreme insanity in both speed and intensity, and to my surprise, it was my favorite album of that year. Enter 2026, and we finally have, after some turmoil, a new Archspire album: Too Fast to Die.

A reaction is a simple, almost animalistic “how did this make me feel?” The answer to that question is simple: It made me feel really good.

But a critique is something more. And relies on an attempt, at least, to ascertain the purpose of a work, and then see how well it accomplished that purpose. So, what is Archspire trying to do on Too Fast to Die?

I believe they are trying to do what they have done over the last pair of albums: play the fastest, most intricate technical death metal possible, while still making it shockingly musical and listenable. Then we must ask the follow up question: how well did they do?

Folks, Archspire fucking knocked it out of the park. Again.

Everything about Archspire’s music is extreme. Drums are played with machine-like precision and speed. It seems inhuman, until you watch the videos that show just how real it is. Same with the guitars, bass, and even the speed of the vocals. Everything is turned up to twelve. That’s right — twelve. They skipped right over eleven.

But speed is far from everything. It is impressive. It is ridiculous to the point that the first time I heard the title track, “Too Fast to Die,” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at how ridiculous it all was. But Archspire are canny and intelligent musicians, not just speed freaks.

They know that 40 minutes of unrelenting speed and aggression would be too much.

It would be exhausting to listen to.

Too Fast to Die ensures that it the case. Take “Liminal Cypher”, first track on the album. It begins and ends with gentle, dare I say beautiful, bass and clean guitars. There are moments of that same motif sprinkled throughout. It makes it that much more impactful when the sonic assault begins.

And “Liminal Cypher” is far from the only song that ensures you, the listener, have moments to catch your breath, to get some short respite. It is a brilliant technique they apply throughout the album, and it goes to great lengths to make the album almost approachable.

But moments of tranquility aren’t the only times Archspire mixes things up. They aren’t afraid to slow the speed of the drums and let the music settle into a groove. “Red Goliath” and “Limb of Leviticus” really revel in that groove. In fact, that groove from “Limb of Leviticus” is one of my very favorite moments on an album I love.

Time and again, they make these transitions without them ever feeling forced. There is a natural flow to the songs that would fall apart in the hands of lesser musicians.

These were the same aspects that led me to adore Bleed the Future. Yes, songs are fast, they are heavy, but they never became repetitive or boring. And most importantly, they maintain an astonishing sense of melody and musicality to them, despite the speed and aggression.

Too Fast to Die is everything I hoped the follow-up to Bleed the Future would be: aggressive, fast, heavy, but eminently musical and listenable. It is technical death metal that makes it almost difficult for me to listen to other bands. Archspire stands apart, and continues to impress.

It may not be for everyone, but it ticks all my boxes.

And it is an excellent lightning rod for bullshit of the day.