Perpetual Paradox – May Misery Befall You (Album)

Perpetual Paradox – May Misery Befall You

Release Date: 28 August 2026|| Genre: Tech Metal||Label: Bleeding Art Collective

Five Tracks. No Anesthetic. Tech Metal that hits like a dental drill.

There’s something distinctly clinical about May Misery Befall You. Not sterile, not lifeless, but clinical in the sense that everything feels measured, precise and executed with the unnerving accuracy you’d expect from your blast-beat loving surgeon.

I coined the term “Dental Metal” earlier this year, and if it wasn’t already a genre, Perpetual Paradox might just have made a pretty convincing case for it.

The London tech metal unit return with five tracks that feel considerably more focused than the broader sprawl of 2025’s Deathwish, with the emphasis firmly on the riff. Tech is still the operating procedure – some death too, of course – but the technicality never feels like an excuse to show off. Everything has a purpose, and the songs feel composed rather than assembled.

Bound and Strangled by a Black Snake kicks the door in immediately. There are hints of late-’90s/early-2000s metal nostalgia, but they’re just that: hints. There’s no sense of retro duplication; the lads take those familiar ingredients, run them through their own machinery and come out sounding fresh.

The guitars are particularly impressive throughout, and don’t so much play riffs as march them towards you. Fast, aggressive and sharp, they give the whole release its juggernaut quality. The bass adds another layer of momentum, giving those riffs some serious low-end muscle without getting lost within. Marvin Menz at Tide Studios deserves plenty of production credit too offering clean crispness without sanding away the aggression, giving the strings enough definition for the intricate playing to register while retaining plenty of oomph.

Similarly immaculate, the drums sit exactly where they need to in the mix, delivering a continuous wall of boom while remaining exceptionally clear. No undifferentiated blur within the density; there’s precision behind the violence.

What really makes the album work, though, is that Perpetual Paradox understand the value of contrast.

Adrian Caucelo’s vocals are harsh and powerful, adding another layer of brutality when the band are at full throttle, but it’s the moments when they pull back that really help the album breathe. Across all five tracks, there are points where the rhythm section quietens, the intensity drops and more restrained vocals emerge – like gasps of air between bouts of suffocation – making the full-force sections hit even harder. The songs move quickly, but not rushed, with clear sections, deliberate turns and enough melodic material to stop the tech becoming monotonous.

By the time the title track arrives, the overall picture is clear. Deathwish showed what Perpetual Paradox could do with a larger canvas. May Misery Befall You feels more interested in proving how much damage they can inflict with a smaller one.

B+

AVZD