Becoming the Archetype

The Arc of Becoming the Archetype

The pivots — what forced Becoming the Archetype to reinvent.

1. 01

   The Madsen Breakthrough

   Flying to Denmark to track with Tue Madsen gave the band a sonic weight that their early independent recordings lacked. Madsen’s production style focused on a massive, percussive low-end that helped define Terminate’s sound against the tinny production of the era. The result was a record that balanced technical death metal precision with a thick, atmospheric dread that felt more European than Southern. You hear it in the way the kick drums lock with the bass guitar to create a wall of sound that doesn't sacrifice the intricate riffing.

2. 02

   The Prog-Metal Expansion

   The band brought in Devin Townsend to produce Dichotomy, which pushed them away from straightforward metalcore and into the deep end of progressive atmosphere. Townsend's influence is all over the layers of synths and the more adventurous, sprawling song structures that abandoned the verse-chorus-breakdown formula. It forced the players to think about space and texture rather than just speed. The record sounds like a band realizing they had more in common with Opeth than with the kids playing the local VFW hall.

3. 03

   The Wisdom Departure and Return

   When founding vocalist and bassist Jason Wisdom exited after Celestial Completion, the band entered a fragmented period that culminated in the divisive I Am album. The lineup shift moved them toward a more streamlined, deathcore-adjacent sound that lost some of the experimental weirdness of the middle years. It took a decade-long hiatus for the core members to regroup and reclaim the identity they built at Antfarm. The 2022 return was a deliberate pivot back to the high-concept, multi-layered technicality that made them stand out in the first place.

Influences

• Living Sacrifice — The band has cited the album The Hammering Process as a foundational text for their rhythmic approach and career path on Solid State. You hear it in the syncopated, chugging riffs that prioritize mechanical precision over flashy solos. They took the blueprint of technical, faith-based metal and stretched it into longer forms.
• Extol — The band frequently pointed to Extol’s Undeceived as the record that taught them how to mix black metal atmosphere with technical death metal. The influence is unmistakable in the weird, dissonant chord voicings and the sudden shifts into melodic, clean-guitar passages. It gave them the permission to be 'the smart guys' in the room.
• Opeth — In early press for Terminate, the band specifically referenced Blackwater Park as the gold standard for blending acoustic fragility with extreme metal. This manifests in their penchant for eight-minute tracks and the inclusion of Mellotrons and piano interludes between the blast beats. They grabbed the 'prog-death' baton and ran with it.
• Death — Jason Wisdom has explicitly noted Chuck Schuldiner’s later work, specifically Individual Thought Patterns, as a primary driver for his bass-heavy compositions. The intricate, fret-jumping bass lines on Dichotomy are a direct lineage from Schuldiner’s philosophy of the bass as a lead instrument. It’s technicality with a soul.
• Mortification — As one of the first extreme metal bands they encountered, the Australian group provided the template for their early death-grind leanings. You can hear the Scrolls of the Megilloth influence in the guttural vocal delivery and the relentless, old-school tremolo picking. It’s the raw, unpolished DNA underneath all the later prog layers.