The structural approach, the harmonic language and arrangement of timbres one doesn't hear very often in rock/metal is all very complex. The structures are not complex in they just throw in riff after another together and don't look back. Some songs have moments of hanging voices and ambient for six minutes before going into a somewhat traceable pattern, nothing on this is predictable nor is it completely random. The harmonic strucuture is just not that of the millions of core bands these days (deathcore, spazzcore, jazzcore, mathcore, techcore), where the bands try to make fifty nine million ear bleeding noises for every decent one. They instead paint pictures of desperation in a desert, disorientation in a dark basement, a homeless night in the street with a pallete of diverse tonal harmonies. The arrangement is not the guitar, bass, drums at all time with vocals most of the time. No, far from it. Guitars, bass (sometimes distorted), drums, vocals, bells, trumpets, and violins, cellos, euphoniums all taking part in a conversation and each perfectly content to stay silent for a The more effort it is to get through a locked door, the more rewarding the prize inside is. I'd say this album is Fort Knox. Take a patient mood and put it to good use with this album and a set of good headphones, don't waste your time and patience on pretentious debris like Sunn0)) (although I appreciate the vocals in casket idea) and Merzbow. This is music pushing the forefront in a new direction, not merely distracting it.
Originally Posted by Alex on Sunday, February 5 2006 10:31 PM
Some of the Avant Garde shit coming out these days, it's hard to tell weather or not weather the group is full of musicians who have studied musical extensively and have embarked on a search for new textures and structures, or they are simply a bunch of idiots who stumble through their writing process for hours and hours to make something that sounds different. Either way, new great music can be formed or "misunderstood" garbage can be made. I don't know which of the two types this band is, but I can tell you this cd is not garbage. Weather one likes it or not is not important, it is something that needs to be experienced, much like how poignant war movies aren't necessarily enjoyable but greatly deepen your understanding of the subject.
good stretch of time. Each one refraining from saying something hackneyed and instead choosing to be insightful at all times.
