EXPERIMENTAL/POST METAL

Fresh out in January 2024, DIVINE LAUGHTER is one of those albums in the modern world that is ever increasingly difficult to classify as all the once traditional subgenres of metal have confluently joined at the hip and created a rather bizarre array of hybridization efforts with traces of death metal here, sludge metal there, blackened elements, moments of core, prog, classic heavy metal melodies and so forth and so on. To convey it all on paper requires a vast list of up to six genres (at least) just to try to grasp the contents in this art metal extravaganza. While the caustic dissonance and guttural growls point first and foremost to the world of death metal, the compositional styles are fairly unique in that they don't adhere to any particular style of metal and as heard on the lengthy 9 1/2 opening "Beyond Recognition," moments of metal are dropped completely in lieu of a sprawling lysergic journey into the world of Krautrock-ish psychedelia.

But this is indeed an extreme metal album through and through with caustic sludge metal tones and drumming techniques, blackened overtones and even bouts with post-metal, CAVE SERMON certainly has done its homework in the exploration of the larger metal universe and crafted a abstractly wild beastly ugliness with DIVINE LAUGHTER. The dissonance at full decibelage enhanced by thundering tempos and frenetic blastbeats may point to Ulcerate, Artificial Brain or a number of modern bands but where CAVE SERMON differs in the completely unorthodox shifts in where the compositions take you. The core elements from deathcore, metalcore and even moments of mathcore, Park keeps you guessing what will be the next hairpin turn move yet never strays to far for too long from the crushing death sludge that squeals and churns and evokes the very bowels of hell.

A crushingly brutal album for the most part however lush psychedelic interludes occur ("Beyond Recognition") in the middle of tracks as to pacifying post-rock moments ("The Pain of an Invader"). Intros and outros also serve as the opportunity to pain the canvass with different colors of sound and although the metal aspects are dark and ominous, these contrasting elements are actually quite bright and cheerful but also fleeting in the big picture compared to the dominance of the caustic deathened sludgery. The lengthiest tracks are quite progressive and offer excursions into varying motifs, tempo shifts and even time signature deviations. The strangest head scratching track on the album is the penultimate "Birds and Machines in Brunswick" which completely drops the metal and rather offers an electroacoustic birdsong with a droning background. Sounding more like something from Nurse Than Wound than say Convulsing, this cements the fact that this album is pretty out there and attempts to take extreme metal into territories that nobody has dared gone before. However as cool as the track is, it sounds completely out of sync with anything else on the album and probably was too "artistic" for its own good.

In a way the electroacoustic turbulence is more like a 5-minute fluffer for the closing title track at 12 minutes plus which is by far the longest track. This one jumps right back into the metal with a series of stomping riffs with an accompanying atmospheric guitar sweeping all over the backdrop. The keys add a nice ambient touch as well. This one begins more as a posty death doom sound in the vein of classic Neurosis or Isis only with death metal bantering and growls. The addition of the chaotic swirls of sound above the main chugga-chug adds nice layers of tension. This last track is the most focused as it tends to use a post-metal structure of repetition which makes it easier to follow than the abstract nature of the rest of the album. It also delivers all the elements in the right doses and in the right logical procession and in a way provides a recap of what you just experienced. It's an amazingly clever slab of weirdo metal freakery!

A veritable stab of psychedelic death / sludge / progressive / experimental metal, CAVE SERMON delivers exactly what the artistic album cover insinuates and that is something completely new for the world of (mostly) death metal. While i think the album could've been streamlined a bit better in the vein of the final track, overall this is an exhilarating slab of psychedelic freakery meets technical brutality. Yeah the electroacoustic "Birds and Machines in Brunswick" seems a bit like a fish out of water without any thought as to how it relates to the rest of the album but i have a feeling this was basically just a warm up album for more to come. Despite my own thoughts about how element A should've been replaced with element B and so forth, i do find this to be an excellent listening pleasure in its own right and perfect for those who love the crushing caustic nature of extreme metal augmented by moments of psychedelia.

This idiosyncratic band has found a way to amalgamate disparate styles of metal and offers a totally new methodology of delivering. By taking the tones, dissonance and cosmic dread of Deathspell Omega, PSICOSFERA has forged a veritable blend of djent-ish post-metal that drifts mid-tempo through 9 tracks (simply titled as Roman numerals) that add up to almost 43 minutes. While sounding like a strain of black metal, the musical procession is not anything like the torturous bleakness of bands like Germany's Ascension or Blut Aus Nord but offers a touch of dissonant death metal in the vein of Ulcerate or Gorguts without really being death metal all the while meandering through semi-progressive game changers without truly being prog.

This album is a smooth flow of transitions although abrupt changes occur but despite heavy dissonant power chords ceding to clean guitar arpeggios and moments of respite erupting into loud frenzies of instrumental interplay, ALPHA logically connects and doesn't deliver a strange mix of avant-garde freakery but rather a coordinated attack of instrumental prowess most resembling a typical instrumental post-rock / post-metal act. The absence of vocals gives the entire affair an abstract feel to it but the relaxed oft sludgy chords are designed to evoke philosophical reflection and human suffering. Not sure that translated well but the darkened tones and bleak overall atmosphere certainly evokes a sense of discombobulation that doesn't resolve throughout the album's run.

The band is skilled at playing their unique spin on proggy djent delivered in a post-metal procession however the tracks begin to sound a bit repetitive by end's length and the addition of a wider pallet of influences might've served it well but as it is it's not a bad listening experience at all and allows for a nice drifting escapism albeit a noise boisterous din of one. I always admire bands that know how to develop their own style in between the cracks of the existing genre and evoke the sense of many metal styles simultaneously without really sounding like any. PSICOSFERA has certainly achieved that lofty task but at this point the band still lacks the ability to craft enough disparate ideas to take their stylized efforts to the next level. Still though a very interesting album despite it all.

3.5 rounded down

Compared to "Ziltoid The Omniscient", "Ki" is a completely different type of release. It´s still unmistakably a Devin Townsend album (although released under The Devin Townsend Project monicker), but it´s predominantly a non-distorted, non-metal oriented release (although it can still be pretty heavy at times). Instead Townsend have opted for a stripped down, organic, and earthy rock sound, which often works through tension and release type dynamics. It´s sometimes a pretty intense album, and often not meant for mellow listening pleasure, so it´s not one of those atmospheric and pretty acoustic guitar releases, although the album does feature a good share of mellow and laid back sections and tracks. Some of the tracks feature jam parts combined with more structured sections and the whole album feels loose and creative in spirit. Featuring 13 tracks and a total playing time of 66:50 minutes, it´s also a pretty long release.

"Ki" is probably Townsend´s most personal release in terms of the lyrical subjects which include subjects like dealing with sober life, self-discovery, and spirituality. "Ki" features a gorgeous organic and earthy sound production. It´s an absolutely brilliant production, where you can hear every detail of the music and all instruments and vocals are well balanced in the mix. It´s interesting to hear Townsend´s music presented in this type of production package, as it stands in great contrast to his usual wall of sound/multi-layered sound productions, but that´s pretty obviously the whole point of "Ki"...to produce a release which sounds vastly different from anything which Townsend had been involved in before.

Personally I find "Ki" a very hard album to get into and it´s taken me many years to get through the album and many re-visits to be able to write something about it. And it´s not because it´s an overtly complex release in terms of the song structures or challenging parts, but it´s the whole atmosphere and the sometimes slow building and repetitive nature of the music (which is often laid back and ambient), which has taken me a while (well...actually a very long time) to get into. Even after all this time "Ki" still leaves me a bit perplexed...

...I´m sure the often idiosyncratic Townsend would be delighted if he read my reaction to "Ki" and the struggles I´ve been through to understand what he has created, but at some point you do have to ask yourself if it´s worth it. Some albums just seem to alienate you even though you try everything to understand them and appreciate them. And that´s how I felt about "Ki" for many years. But understanding and appreciating music sometimes comes down to experience with different types of music, the real life situation you´re experiencing at the given moment, and maybe who you listen to the music with. Negative feelings often create a negative reaction to difficult music, because you don´t have the emotional surplus to grasp it.

The point is that "Ki" is one of the most unique but also one of the most difficult releases in Devin Townsend´s discography, and it´s one of those releases which is an aquired taste. Just because you think of yourself as a Townsend fan doesn´t mean you´ll be able to appreciate "Ki". In parts maybe, but probably not the full album in one sitting unless you´re one of those rare folks who get it right away. But while you should consider yourself warned at this point, I would still urge you to give "Ki" a listen. This is the work of a real artist trying something new and working outside his comfort zone, and while I still have a way to go before I completely surrender to "Ki", there are arguably musical treasures buried on the album, which deserve to be discovered. The only way to find them...is to keep digging. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

As always Sigh have managed to incorporate new musical elements to their progressive blackened heavy/speed metal style and this time around it´s the inclusion of traditional Japanese instruments and the fact that Mirai Kawashima (keyboards, vocals, vocoder, programming, main composer) have learned to play the flute (and occasionally use it on the tracks like he does on album opener "Aletheia"), which are the most dominent new elements. There are of course other new adventurous ideas on the album, but if you´re familiar with the preceding releases from Sigh you of course wouldn´t expect it any other way. Kawashima just never ceases to amaze. He is such an incredible musical capacity, who seems to be able to do anything he sets his mind to (learning to play the flute before recording this album was probably a walk in the park for him).

The main vocal style is the usual raspy blackened snarling, but the extreme metal vocal style is complimented by both male and female clean vocals, vocoder parts, and a varity of choirs and backing vocals. In addition to the traditional Japanese music influence there is also a strong middle eastern music element featured on the album. The basic guitar, bass, drums rock/metal band instrumentation are combined with Kawashima´s different keyboards/synths/organ/piano layering and his classical music influences are heard throughout the album.

Avantgarde/progressive heavy/speed metal with raw snarling blackened vocals may be the best overall description of the music, but Sigh are as always almost impossible to give a label which makes sense for the reader. Compared to "Graveward" my ears tell me that "Heir to Despair" is a slightly more well developed and tasteful release featuring a sound production, which is also a step up from the sound production of the predecessor (it´s clearer and more powerful sounding). This album is even close to being accessible at times. As an example take a listen to the sophisticated and very melodic Iron Maiden influenced lead- and harmony guitars on "Homo Homini Lupus" or the uplifting and melodic rocking "Hunters Not Horned". Avantgarde music never felt this pleasant and easy going before.

When that is said "Heir to Despair" is still a complex and demanding release featuring many layers of instruments and vocals, and a generally unconventional approach to composing music. Most tracks have recognisable vers/chorus parts, but everything else going on are quite unique when heard in this context. Upon conclusion "Heir to Despair" is another high quality release from Sigh, who are still one of the most original and creative acts on the scene. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

To say that the production is the best thing about the album may sound like damning with faint praise, but I honestly don't mean it that way. The thing about atmospheric black metal is that it's all about the atmosphere - the clue is rather in the subgenre name - and it's easy to underestimate how important production is to that, but this album really illustrates the difference a really artistically apt production aesthetic makes.

So it´s only natural that "Nighttime Birds" is more or less a sibling release to "Mandylion". This was not the time to change a winning formula, but merely perfect it...and that The Gathering did. "Mandylion" is a great album in its own right, but when you listen to "Nighttime Birds", it feels like "Mandylion" was just an album where The Gathering were testing their new songwriting approach and then they went on to nail it 100% on this album.

Stylistically the material on "Nighttime Birds" is a melancholic and atmospheric type of gothic/doom metal with van Giersbergen´s strong voice and distinct sounding vocal style leading the show. She is thankfully not an operatic type female vocalist, although she can hit some pretty impressive notes, and she is generally very intense and has a personal singing style. To my ears all three previous album releases weren´t written with vocals being the priority in the songwriting process, although "Mandylion" certainly showed improvement in that department over the first two albums. "Nighttime Birds" is on the other hand obviously an album composed primarily to support the beautiful vocal lines. All instruments are composed to support and compliment the vocals and provide them with the best possible conditions to shine.

The keyboards which had been very much at the forefront of the band´s music up until then are much more tastefully applied here and often just add atmosphere or texture to the songs (as opposed to the lead instrument role they often played before), while the heavy distorted riffs and rhythms add doomy heaviness. There are however many sections without distorted guitars, which aren´t that heavy and add an atmospheric/dreamy rock element to the band´s sound. The simple melancholic melodic guitar leads deserve a mention too and the bass playing by Hugo Prinsen Geerligs is also an important element.

"Nighttime Birds" features a gorgeous sounding production. It´s dynamic, powerful, and perfectly suits the material. All details are heard in the music and the mix favors both mellow dreamy parts and massive epic heavy sections. I wasn´t surprised to learn that the album was recorded at Woodhouse Studio in Hagen, Germany with producer/engineer Siggi Bemm. That´s a name which is a guarantee for high quality sound productions.

So "Nighttime Birds" is everything a fan of "Mandylion" had hoped it would be. More dynamic, even stronger musicianship, superior sound production values, and vocal-centric songwriting which focus on The Gathering´s greatest asset, which in those days was arguably the voice and vocals of van Giersbergen. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).