LES INSURGÉS DE ROMILLY

Noise / math rock / avant-prog / experimental and bona fide freaks of French underground, ni (emphatically NOT capitalized) can add one more tag to their already eclectic musical palette on their first full-length release debut LE INSURGÉS DE ROMILLY ( The Iinsurgents of Romilly) and that is the tag of avant-garde metal as this quartet of ear abusing misfits ramp up the heaviness after two brief EPs (both eponymously titled have ya) that already utilized an extreme blender style of all kinds of head spinning musical mischief. And instead of chillin' out and headin' for the pop charts (do they even exist any more?), ni (emphatically NOT capitalized) go for the jugular and take all the extremities to new levels of well?. extremeness. Only nearly forty minutes of it instead of half that.

While mostly instrumental like the two preceding EPs, vocals do occur in short bursts whether they be silly, screamed or possessed by demons shouting in agony. This is obviously a band that relishes the most unrelenting and brutal elements of music that are humanly possible. Once again we are treated to an intense session that in this case consists of eight bombastic tracks that revolve around hyper syncopated groove rhythms on the bass the proceed with unthinkable time signature deviations in every crazed and looney way possible with unexpected passages into psychedelia or placid moments that belie the true schizophrenic nature of this most disharmonic festival of earache music.

In terms of intensity and bombast, ni (emphatically NOT capitalized) reminds me a lot of the Japanese bombast band Ruins with unrelenting brutal prog sensibilities that include time signatures run amok, jagged compositional procedures and staccato rich stop / start math rock nerdiness. All these elements are present on the eponymous EPs but ni (emphatically NOT capitalized) was obviously not satiated by these procedures and turned the spigot ALL the way on to let the craziness flow in gushers. Once again fellow countrymen PoiL seem to have had an influence on their latest diversification project into myriad directions outside their usual "brutal at all costs" methodology as heard on tracks like "Torfessor" that use the brutal math rock meets avant-prog playbook to creating grindingly "normal" atmospheres.

As with most avant-prog of this magnitude that fuse a whole host of disparate elements together at a breakneck pace, this stuff is not for the faint of heart and only enjoyable by the hard skinned headbangers who love heavily bombastic music doubly bombastified with every prog element stuffed into every cadence and measure. While ni (emphatically NOT capitalized) may seem like a recipe for robotic desensitized music that is completely devoid of emotional connection and soul, these guys really know how to caress and pacify these chunks of brutality into logical patterns that while by no means qualify as easy listening are somehow neutered from their alienating effect with silly vocal utterances and quirky stylistic juxtapositions. ni (emphatically NOT capitalized) certainly are not poised to become the next Radiohead by any means but within their tightly knit underworld culture of crazy brutal avant-prog, they will surely please.

ni are a loud, brutal and mostly instrumental band that is new to me. Glad I found them. A quartet that includes two guitars, bass, and drums. When I need to listen to something that is intense, modern, and blows my socks off I'll reach for ni. My lame attempt to describe them would be a cross between Primus and heavy heavy heavy rock and roll. Odd time signatures, tricky syncopated beats, and dissonant chaos. You need thick skin to appreciate the madness of ni.

Highlights include "Marpaud"... love the unison guitars playing against the heavy backbone of the locked and loaded beat. The beginning of "Butor" sounds like it could be a song by Black Label Society, but not for long. The relentless pounding bass line, the psychedelic sounding guitar and the screams takes it up a notch. The song crescendo's to a climax and then a narrator speaking French? ends the song. Got to give them credit for being unique and original. The final track "Torfesor", has a repetitive tribal beat through the first half of the song and then, out of nowhere, ni slams into a killer riff that you weren't expecting. Great closer. "Torfesor" takes up 39:40 of space on the CD. The music only last for 5:41. Silence, maybe needed, until 39:35 when a voice appears and talks for five more seconds. No, I didn't sit through the silence. I had to fast forward the player to see it anything was there, and yep it was. Anyway, that is the bonus you get for the buying the CD.

The superb artwork that comes with the disc fits the music like a glove. A bit twisted but imaginative. Also, if you order a physical copy from their bandcamp page they will send some special stickers with your purchase.