In the fog-ridden murkiness of Cascadia, one can easily forget that not all metal is black metal. Shattering our illusions of “all-grim everything” comes the brilliantly crisp technical metal of Archspire from Vancouver, B.C. Sharing the brutal gospel of last year’s The Lucid Collective (released on the Season Of Mist label), the tech-death powerhouse has been tearing up stages aside the likes of Fallujah, Origin and Fleshgod Apocalypse, all the while winning over new converts.

Frontman Oliver Rae Aleron’s vocal delivery is as blisteringly fast as Archspire’s dual-guitar attack, using a circular breathing method to machine gun growls at breakneck speeds. It’s a method, he says, that doesn’t have origins in metal.

“The influence for this comes from hip hop — acts that I’ve been interested in such as Tech N9ne and Busta Rhymes, R.A. The Rugged Man,” Aleron says. “It’s sort of applying this principal of phrasing and speed to death metal.”

Aleron’s creative catalysts aside, there is nothing “rap metal” about Archspire. On the contrary, they are the embodiment of all things heavy without any of the pesky hipster tendencies that accompany descriptors such as “progressive” or “blackened.”

Local heavies Cruciation and Psithurism join Archspire 10 pm Saturday, March 21, at Black Forest; free. 21-plus.