THE BLACK FLUX

It's no coincidence I reviewed this album together with Intronaut's Prehostoricisms. They are quite different but expressions of the same musical philosophy: free expression, highly innovating musicianship, dense chord progressions and other jazzy goodies.

The music is decidedly less heavy then Intronaut and replaces the Neurosis and Tool stylings with an equal amount of Voivod complexities and the haunting anguish of Bauhaus, especially in the vocal department, but also in the yearning guitar licks. Again, this music has little to do with metal. It's highly experimental but not heavier then Voivod was around Nothingface. It's highly chromatic, not to say atonal and almost categorically non-melodic.

To draw a last parallel with Intronaut, the vocals might be the aspect that will shy away most listeners. The plaintive declamatory diction gets heavy to take after a few songs. Maybe the album would have benefited from more instrumental parts or from some melodic relief left or right. But I'm quite sure they did it on purpose. Easy-listening this is not, but one of the most unique and innovative bands around? Sure. 3.5 stars