apanthropy

Species
Changelings
20 Buck Spin
To Be Released: 9/19/25

Rating: 88/100

“What Species does on Changelings is easily one of the best examples of technical thrash metal in 2025. At times it’s crushingly heavy, knife-edge focused and extremely tight and at other times it becomes airy, expansive, mystical, and sonically progressive. Through it all, the entire length of Changelings is an unbroken line of technical and precise riffing.“

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1 – Inspirit Creation
2 – The Essence
3 – Waves of Time
4 – Voyager
5 – Born of Stitch and Flesh
6 – Terror Unknown
7 – Biological Masterpiece
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Species are a Polish technical thrash metal trio who formed in 2018. The band’s first effort was 2019’s The Monument of Envy EP, followed by their debut full-length effort To Find Deliverance in 2022. September 19th will see the release of their sophomore effort, Changelings, through 20 Buck Spin. The band rips through seven tracks of bewilderingly technical and compositionally progressive thrash metal over the course of 40 minutes. Each track is a fully developed narrative, thematically focused on space and science fiction, boasting a constant barrage and battery of ever-changing musical phrases and enough riffs to power the entire eastern European electrical grid for the next century.

Thrash, even in its most primitive form, is, to a degree, a musically technical performance. The concept of picking speed alone is one of the foundational fundamentals of thrash execution, it is a highly physical demand that takes a great deal of practice to tame. As the genre progressed from its proto-roots into a more mainstream form in the early 1980s, it continued to flourish – at times, flounder – and evolve the longer it stayed around. Over 40 years later, the genre has melded to every other form of extreme music that has spawned after it, picking up different characteristics and techniques as it did. On Changelings, the very concept of ‘technical’ thrash metal is challenged. Through the early roots of the technical-tinged offshoot of the broader thrash theme, powered by acts such as Voivod, Watchtower, Coroner, Sadus, and others, the underpinning and artistic directive was established, leading to a new wave of technical thrash metal bands that employed greater and greater degrees of skill as time went on.

While the concept of technical thrash metal is decades old now, the offshoot continues to produce wonderful talent and stunning records. What Species does on Changelings is easily one of the best examples of technical thrash metal in 2025. At times it’s crushingly heavy, knife-edge focused and extremely tight and at other times it becomes airy, expansive, mystical, and sonically progressive. Through it all, the entire length of Changelings is an unbroken line of technical and precise riffing.

Opening with ‘Inspirit Creation,’ the technical fireworks detonate immediately, with breakneck start/stop phrases of expansive riffing leading into the track. Verse sections are exercises in melodic execution with bright single-note sequences and punchy, ripping palm-muted accents. A beautifully crafted bridge appears halfway through the song, exploding initially into a blaze of riffs before tempering down into lightly distorted soloing and impressive bass playing featuring some slap picking. The intro passage cycles back around before launching into one final verse to terminate the over six-minute odyssey of technical wizardry.

 ‘The Essence’ shows the band playing inside a more compact musical composition and shows the band is capable of delivering shorter bursts of ripping thrash. Tight palm-muted single note sequences propel the song forward initially, with galloping double-bass underneath. The verse sections are a more conventional phrasing, with a static chord progression that gives the drums plenty of room to show off their precision delivery. Another scorching solo towards the final third of the track, brief but stunning, showcases the apex movements of the ultra-precise guitar playing.

Separating Changelings in half is the instrumental ‘Voyager,’ which features voracious sweep picking and gorgeous synth work in its early structure before morphing into a booming chord progression, a build-up, and the primary riff motif. One of the cooler moments in thrash metal for 2025, with the added synth work providing great atmospherics throughout the track.

‘Born of Stitch and Flesh,’ is a twisted number packed full of labyrinthian riffing and whirlwind drumming. All techniques employed here, with a late bridge that features clean riffing and more stunning bass work. Soloing is quite literal, with the guitar track playing above a snapping bass line and sublime percussion work that are relatively tempered down.

Closing the album is the massive ‘Biological Masterpiece,’ a ten-minute opus of guitar wizardry and xenomorphic phrasing. Extended bridges, razor-sharp soloing and methodical well-crafted progressions pack the song full of interesting moments, with Species, as a band, showcasing their ability to write a rare strain of long-form technical thrash metal.

Production is perfectly suited for the delivery on Changelings. Guitars are crisp, sharp, and crystal clear with no excessive distortion or gain. Just a wellspring of sonic character and depth. Drums are a touch low in volume but possess great punch in the bass tone and great presence with snare, cymbal accents and tom rolls. Bass is warm and frontal, with a powerful presence across the entire record, with sharp bursts of sound coming from moments of slap picking buried throughout Changelings. Vocals perch atop all else, with their unique delivery and tonality really being one of the crown jewels of the sonic template employed on this record.

Overall, this is one of the better moments in thrash metal for 2025 and a near-perfect sophomoric effort that exceeds the debut. Species has a lot of potential and Changelings demonstrates the band’s exceptional songwriting competency to such a magnified and prominent degree. This is a power trio of songwriters that are locked in with one another and show they can bring both short and long examples of purely technical and ultra-precise thrash metal. A solid record from start to finish and one that should be sought out by fans of technical thrash metal, especially with a flair for the old-school.

Label: 20 Buck Spin
Band: Species

AJK