Species Changelings Review
Species
Changelings
20 Buck Spin
2025
If mutation had a sound, it would probably scream like this record. “Changelings” is the kind of album that doesn’t just bend genres, it snaps their bones. Species sound like they crawled out of the wreckage of a Progressive/Tech - Thrash fueled wet dream and decided to make a soundtrack for the end of humanity.
This isn’t your typical heavy record. There’s Thrash in its DNA, but it’s been corrupted by Progressive grime, Death leanings, and a strange melodic sense that feels alien, like something that shouldn’t work but absolutely does. The guitar riffs mutate mid-song, shifting tone and tempo like the ground is moving under your feet. The drumming sounds mechanical one second and primal the next, a perfect push-and-pull.
Vocally, it’s pure menace. The delivery isn’t about perfection, it’s about transformation, emotion, and unpredictability. Every line feels like it’s teetering on the edge of collapse, which only makes it more gripping.
Thematically, “Changelings” feels obsessed with decay and rebirth. The songs blur together like a fever, each one bleeding into the next until you’re not sure where one ends and another begins. It’s a beautiful mess, chaotic and deliberate, the sound of a band that’s unafraid to burn their own skin off to find what’s underneath.
It’s not an easy album, but it’s not supposed to be. “Changelings” demands attention, discomfort, and surrender. It’s the kind of record that will divide listeners, and that’s exactly its power.
Standouts – “Waves Of Time”, “The Essence” and “Born Of Stitch And Flesh”.