Review by chrisc7249 on April 28, 2022.

We're going to keep this review relatively short, because I've already talked about Augury before in my review of their latest album, Illusive Golden Age released in 2018. This is solely about their 2009 sophomore album, Fragmentary Evidence. Let's jump into it.

Prior to the 2010s, the technical death metal scene had begun to flourish with a new wave of bands taking the progressive death-isms to the next extreme. Bands like Decrepit Birth, Obscura, The Faceless and Augury branched out into new territories to expand the genre even further. Augury already had their debut album released a few years prior to this, so it was time to see what the band could offer to the genre in helping it evolve to its next logical level.

In comparison with their newest record, I'd say Augury was much heavier, intense and sporadic on their sophomore album. Songs like 'Skyless', 'Simian Cattle', 'Aetheral', and 'Faith Puppeteers' are amazingly complex, to the point where even seasoned fans of the genre will have a hard time grasping what's going on. Their bizarre mix of sounds could best be described as "Quo Vadis and Gorguts teaming up to play death metal versions of King Crimson's most complex songs." Each track is vicious in its attacks, loaded with impressive guitar, bass and drum work and Patrick's schizophrenic vocals.

Dominic's fretless bass playing is the best of his career, and some of Augury's best tracks are presented on this album. I would say Illusive Golden Age is a little more consistent in its approach and results, as Fragmentary Evidence stumbles towards the back end; 'Brimstone Landscapes' is a good song, significantly hampered by atrocious female vocals near the end of the song and 'Oversee The Rebirth' overstays its welcome far too long and is nowhere near as good as the other long track 'Jupiter To Ignite'.

Overall, I'd say this is an about equal release to their newest album. While the highlights are better than those on IGA, the lows balance it out, as I feel IGA had more consistency with the quality of the songs. This is still a great album and Augury still stands as one of the best bands the genre has ever seen. The progressiveness is up a notch on this album, as it is far more bizarre and complex than the album that succeeds it. Both great albums in their own right.

FFO: StarGazer, Quo Vadis, Cynic

Favorite song: 'Skyless'

Rating: 8 out of 10