LEAVING YOUR BODY MAP

Blown away once again by a TOBY DRIVER project! Started with "Part the Second," then went into Kayo Dot stuff before circling back round to earlier motW stuff. While "Part the Second" is out of this world, this one is within this world but still exploring and pushing boundaries and stylistic experimentation like no one--NO ONE--is doing (to my knowledge).

1. "Stones of October's Sobbing." (10/10) To start an album with spacious guitar notes and flute and then so smoothly flow into an unique pounding-yet-minimalistically-constructed moody jazz/pop metal song with slow (and easy to understand!) death metal growls is nothing less than astounding! Astounding! Then to have it evolve into a true metal song with angels of jazz flitting in and out, over and above, then decaying into a death scene with the odd spasm of metal guitar life. It defies description much less explanation.

2. "Gleam in Ranks" (9/10) is an unbelievably fresh-sounding song with components and accents that defy definition or description. I can't tell you how amazed I am over the choice of vocal styling and effects (distant, very melodic human-emotional singing, interspersed with screams and growl-screams) over this amazing driving song.

3. "Bizarre Flowers/A Violent Mist" (9/10) as repetitive as it is, is probably my favorite song on the album. The amazing vocals, epic tubular bells, and weave of all kinds of tertiary and background instruments and effects, presents a wall of sound that strikes deep within my core. Then! it all cuts out at the three minute mark, leaving some cymbol play, electric guitar feedback, repeated electric guitar note play and voices screaming in the background like thunder rumbling--till it all builds to jump start the song's third section with its growl vocals--at first fast, then mysteriously slowing--as if the world is being played in slow motion. Then the odd, dissonant electric guitar and bass chords and double bass drum machine gun hits play a few seconds before everything switches to a very straightforward driving rock beat with an almost normal electric guitar solo playing over the top. Oops! Switch again! Slow down to that slow-mo heavier music only this time with the floating upper register male vocals singing till song's still and anti-climactic end.

4. "(Interlude 3)" is a beautiful acoustic guitar (and, later, tabla, and still later, violin) piece--almost like a CHOPIN étude. (10/10)

5. "The Curve that to an Angle Turn'd" (8/10) begins as a rather slow-paced study in electric guitar chords before turning into a proper albeit slow metal song with growl lyrics as in the opening song. This song's development and evolution are slow and subtle, then suddenly diverting to jazz, interrupted with metal power chords, then back to the jazz theme with quite pastoral female and (far in the background) male vocals. Kissing seems to be the topic of their woven discussion before we find ourselves left only with an slow laying electric guitar. Guitar is then joined by jazzy drums and some whipsered background voices before the scream-growl master reutrns with flayling drums (bass, mostly) and composed guitar chords. God this music is so fascintating! Like nothing I've ever reviewed! Not sure of the point of this song.

6. "Sleep Is a Curse" is a kind of folk ballad about the singer's own suicide. Acoustic guitars being picked at seem to be telling a story of their own--a kind of underlying confidence to go with the ethereal lyric. Almost three-quarters of the way into the song, the guitars are joined by bass, drums, and violin to finish out the song. The vocals only hum in the background. (Must be the angel getting to know himself and his boundaries.) Cool song. Melodic and probably poignant. (8/10)

7. "Riseth He, The Numberless, part 1" (7/10) Opens with low brass (baritone or French horn?) before meaty bass and drums and then guitars join in on a kind of military march with Post Rock/Math Rock leanings--that is, until the growl vocals enter. Later the tempo doubles, a virtuosic guitar solo spills out before the music suddenly cuts out, leaving the sounds of rain and wind with a screaming man far in the distance.

8. "Riseth He, The Numberless, part 2" (8/10) is a kind of slowed down, angelic carry forward from "part 1" with a harp-like instrument playing a pretty melody in arpeggio. At the two minute mark, the music solidifies into a more heavy mode with fuzz guitar and a brief growl vocal. At 3:00 the music briefly adds some electronic keyboard arpeggio accents before returning to the death metal format and a brief lead guitar solo decaying with multiple fuzz guitars playing an odd chord progression over and over.

9. "(Interlude 4)" (8/10) begins with sleigh bells (yeah: sleigh bells) which are joined by one and then a second Windham Hill-like acoustic guitar, playing off of one another (or are they each in their own separate universes?) before being joined by jazz-like drumming and violin/strings.

10. "Monstrously Low Tide" (9/10) begins by giving the listener a true journey: from power metal to acoustic jazz to FRED FRITH sound experimentation to be unexpectedly joined by our female (think "JOANNE HOGG") and male (think "MICHAEL FRANKS") vocalist/lovers from Song 5 then turning down another electric guitar effects étude--where it stays until song'--(and album')--s conclusion.

What a journey! I swear this album took/takes me to alternate universes I had never imagined! Just what I want my music to do! Just what truly PROGRESSIVE music should do. Definitely one of the most adventurous, exciting, and beautiful albums of the 21st Century! A true masterpiece of progressive music! (And I don't really like metal or growling!)