DETERIOR

In February, 2019, Deterior released it's 6th full length studio album called "Ring This Broken Bell". The music is all instrumental on this album, after a decision that Andrew made after recording the EP "World" where he was quite dissatisfied with his vocals. Everything is played by Andrew on this album. There are 5 tracks lasting between 7 and 10 minutes each.

Starting out with the 10 minute behemoth of a song "I Woke Up and All of Us were Crying", there are crowd noises done with a field recording before the song builds and plays off of various guitar riffs, a moderately slow rhythm and heavy bass. The beat picks up fairly early on and churns out a heavy duet with the bass until the rhythm stops and the music becomes a bit atmospheric with softly howling guitars and an acoustic riff before it returns to heavier guitars again and builds back up quickly. The bass starts to churn heavily again as guitars push everything forward until a synth comes in for a short appearance. Just before 8 minutes, the loudness cuts off again, soft guitars swirl around and the crowd noise comes back in and flows into the next track.

"To Defy and Dissent" actually comes across a bit brighter at first with chiming guitars and nicely layered synths, it gets heavier for a short time, then moves to a more pensive atmosphere with soft percussion, soft guitar and lush keyboards. The track alternates back to a loud, almost "Pelican" style heaviness. A new rhythm suddenly changes to a faster beat which causes the track to intensify. After a while it returns to the previous heavy theme. The remainder of the album follows this same pattern with a lot of dynamic changes. The last track "A Hole Where the Sun Used to Be" is probably the highlight of the album and it stays soft and beautifully pensive for quite some time before it really opens up to a loud, yet emotional payoff.

These first two tracks serve as an example of the sound you will find on this album. The sound is more dynamic then you would think, sometimes with a thick, sludgy loudness in the style of "Pelican" like I said earlier, and at other times, more exploratory and brighter even touching on "Mogwai" styles. There are really no slow builds as you would normally expect with Post Rock music, but the overall sound is more of a Post Rock sound than a Post Metal sound. Yes it is quite heavy at times, but it never really stays there for very long. It leans more towards the post rock feel and never really ventures into experimental territory, but even in that style, it sounds less adventurous than say "GY!BE" and "Mono" and more like "Explosions in the Sky" or "Pelican". However, I notice a lot more dynamic and progressive changes in this music than your typical average post rock band, and that works to the benefit of this album in that it provides some variation in the music. It helps the music rise above the norm earning the album a 4 star rating.

A stark improvement over this one-man project's first album 'Antimonument', Deterior's third album shows the work of Andrew Arnold progressing deeper into a sludge and post-metal realm. Highly distorted and bellowing guitars are the order of the day here, along with harsh growls to add to the raw atmosphere of the music. While Deterior has created a decent, sometimes even great piece of post-metal here however, the music does seem a little too content to wallow under the shadow of great post-metal bands to be worth a total recommendation.

Typically, the way Deterior's music (from what I've heard) used to work would be instrumental rock, drawn out and feeling as if it was going somewhere, but ultimately failing in its attempt. With 'Primitive Circuitry', the sound feels quite a bit more professional here, so there are no real complaints concerning the production, perhaps besides the fake drums. In terms of the guitars, things are generally very heavy and basic in the way they are brought along, although the best parts of the album are when melodies will make their way through the wall of sludge. However, Deterior's big flaw rests in the fact that it sounds far too much like the giants of post- metal; such as Isis, and Cult of Luna. The sludgy guitars sound like they could have been taken out of any early Luna release (as with the growls) and the clean vocals sound like they were taken from an Isis outtake. With such conclusions being drawn even early into the album, it's difficult to recommend the album, when there are many other things out there that sound similar. The clean vocals here are quite well done all things considered, although the growls do feel a bit lackluster on the other hand.

Overall, Deterior has some great potential, and some of the sludgy riffs here are excellent, but I would really like to see a greater sense of innovation and originality from Andrew Arnold's work before giving a higher rating.

The solo project of guitarist Andrew Arnold, 'Antimonument' is a piece of heavy post-rock that has been released over the internet, free of charge. While some of my favourite artists and musicians are part of the post-rock scene, it does feel as if many artists attempt to emulate the grandeur and subtle complexity of the legends. While Arnold certainly appears to be a talented multi-instrumentalist and self-producer however, the album lacks a personal identity, and feels very much like an amateur production.

From the painfully slow buildup of the first track 'Sunrise And Delusion', one can tell that this album will be a very mixed bag. While the guitar work and use of the more atmospheric electronics is admirable, Arnold tends to do alot of experimentation with noise in his work, which may work in a few sparse occasions, but for the most part, it really starts the album off on a poor note. Luckily however, the opener develops into a more typical piece of post-rock that begins to really work for its favour. Unfortunately however, the arrangement of the music never gets too complex or emotive in nature, and the highlights of the compositions are still rather basic and easily digestible.

While there is the feeling throughout that this is the work of an unprofessional, Andrew Arnold does manage to make the tools at his disposal work for him, to varying extents. The prevalent use of samples (from films or radio) often makes for some interesting atmospheric and thematic layers. Ironically where Deterior shines most however, is in the soundscapes Arnold crafts, as opposed to the post-rock that makes up the majority of this album.

Overall, the compositions are decent enough, but they do not feel as if they have the life to them to really be worth revisiting. There is some great use of electronic ambiance in both parts of the soundscape 'A Thin, Nameless Noise' but some generally lack luster songwriting and performance makes the album something of a bore.

2(+), I feel like encountering this kind of music recently and have to say it again, void music. How(ever), the saddest thing here is that there are good and bad tracks.

Let this easy to understand chart help you in your confusing dear readers.

BAD: 1 5 9

NO MAN'S LAND 2 (I dunno) 4 6 7

GOOD: 3 8

I like something here, but I'm not so sure what. Yes, this actually is positive review, but whole rating have to be set more and more down due to horrible setting.

"Cleanse: Tower to Sky" A thin film of static and noise sets the tone of the album.

"Syzygy" While maintaining that heavy fuzz, a proper song commences, which moves between biting and distorted growls and clearer vocals, but even clearer vocals are swamped with grit.

"Solace" Deep, echoing bass makes me think of "One of These Days" from Pink Floyd's Meddle. A duo of hard-panned guitars play two different melodies and builds before the music becomes something far more straightforward. This is a pretty good song, mixing psychedelic and heavy metal aspects.

"Tidal" The fourth piece on the album explodes immediately into action with a pleasant moderate tempo and heavily-distorted guitars. After a while it starts to drag a bit, however.

"Cassini I" Eerie sounds and ghostly noises make up much of this piece, which incorporates unsettling skipping and popping. Portions of it sound like stripped-down Ozric Tentacles, while others are just unbearable and grating sound effects that seem more befitting one of those novelty Halloween CDs to play at parties- only this one is scratched. Ultimately, it is a lengthy introduction to the next piece.

"Cassini II" That said, the only thing that happens during this one that is different from what came prior is one guitar laden with reverb and some whispering. It's dark ambience, and nothing more.

"Voyager" After nearly fifteen minutes of dark ambience, only then does something exceptional happen. The guitars are used to great effect, and not all of them are seeped with distortion. The vocals are disgustingly distorted, however, often sounding like the vocalist is trying to clear his throat- I want to offer him a cough drop.

"New Truth" This is a far superior piece. Musically and vocally, it is similar to recent Porcupine Tree, which is to say, melancholic and with harder-edged segments. This song shows the real potential of the artist.

"Terminus Ad Quem" Unfortunately, the final track returns to the nebulous noise and sound effects- this time, it sounds like an intergalactic Laundromat. Music finally fades in during the last ninety seconds or so, but by then, I've already cried uncle and hit the stop button.

It starts off with an intro track that makes me feel as if I'm about to go insane, but in a good way. Frantic, disruptive, and noisy. Off to a good start. I then begin to hear a song that is very straightforward at first, but still very enjoyable. However, after the 1:00 mark is exceeded, the song suddenly sifts into a drakly beautiful melody that spoke to me immediately. Clever rhythms paired with unusual yet compelling crunchy guitar riffs help keep this song interesting and unrepetetive for the entire track length

Track 3, Solace, starts art with a very Tool-meets-Isis kind of vibe, with some hard-hitting bass playing overtop of atmospheric ambience. Then some booming, tribal drumbeats come in to play,, and the guitar doesn't even begin to show until a minute five seconds in, but when it does, it displays a truly chilling feedback-clad guitar solo. Very ethereal and dream-like. This song reaches a new level of musical greatness by five minutes in, and I feel like I'm listening to a Pinkl Floyd record, due to the spacey, dreamy guitar sounds, and yet just when it get to the point where I can't stand the beauty anymore, the crunchy guitar comes back in stronger than ever. The fact that all of this magical sound paint is coming out of one man's mind is absolutely astonishing. This epic ways it at a heafty Eight minutes and Twenty- Six seconds, yet it went by so fast and I enjoyed it so much that I wasn't ready for it to end yet. That's a mark of a good composer, right there; to be able to make nearly ten minutes go by without the listener feeling restless at even one moment takes talent. Opeth could takes lessons from this guy (Watershed, anyone?).

Allow me to point something out right now: I am astonished as to how amazingly clean and crisp this music sounds. As far as I know, this is just some guy making his own music for the hell of of. I mean, he doesn't even charge for his music, and yet, it sounds so good and professional. He could absolutely get away with selling his albums in CD form if he would want to start making money off of it.

Tidal is another amazing track (Seems like these amazing tracks follow one right after another without getting weak on this album). It is also the album's longest track, lasting just under ten minutes, and again, it is one of thise situations in which I couldn't believe all that time had already passed. Mr. Arnold, I salute you. To go into too much detail on this track wouldn't do it justice, so just let me say that it is quite possibly my favorite song of the whole album, and this track alone is probably some of the best music I have heard to come out of the Experimental/Post-Metal scene since Tool's La te ra lus record back in '01. I kid you not, this is that good, at least in my eyes and ears. Just extraordinary. You must listen to it.

Cassini I is undoubtedly the most Space-Rock-influenced track on the record, and becomes very eery bvery quickly. Sent shivers up my spine in a few places, as it gives off an impoending sense of doom. If that was Mr. Arnold's intention, then he very much succeeded. Another great track.

The song's continuation, Part II, is very light and melodic at times, and makes me think of my childhood for some reason. Not sure if this sense of nostalgia will hit everyone who listens to this track, but I am saying that it is definately worth dimming the lights, cranking up the headphones and flowing downstream to this-- more so this applies to this track than any other on the record. Absolutely beautiful.

Voyager, this Opus' seventh perfect song in a row (and in case you haven't been counting, it's the album's seventh song, period.), once again comes back in with the heavy princibles that the earlier tracks in the record have been following, only this time Andrew sings in a very modern rock-ish, gruff style. Not really a growl, but not clean singing, either. Not to worry, though; this style of vocalization absolutely fits the music found accompanying it, and compliments it in every aspect. Again making this song feature everything right that could possibly be done in a song.

New Truth is the second longest song on the album, and the vocal melodies found within this track are absolutely haunting and lovely. It made me feel something special emotionally just like the other tracks, maybe even more so. Great, great track, yet again.

''Terminus Ad Quem''. It even reads like a Tool closing track. Sadly, it also sounds like one. This is perhaps the only track that I found less-than-perfect. That isn't to say it is a bad track, but it sounds drawn out slightly longer than it should be, and full of filler. Anyone who listens to Tool records knows exactly what I'm talking about; an entire album full of great quality music, then a final obscure track full of mostley nothing but noise (Except the AEnima record, which featured filler mostley in between tracks, while the album closer was epic and sensational). Who knows, though. It could grow on me after awhile, but for now, this is merely a decent track. But ah well, one small error does not a bad album make.

So, overall, what can I tell you about Mr. Andrew Arnold and his musical project that he calls DETERIOR? Y'know, keeping it short, it is THE best album I have heard of the year thus far. Hands down. The best. Number one album of the year in my opinion, um . . . this is all there is to it. The man is a musical genious, as far as I am concerned. He did everything right with this album. Cleanse is truly an opus; a masterpiece of Prog Music, and certainly the best Experimental/Post-Metal album to come out in years, at least based on what I've been listening to. It's honestly a shame that this incredibally giften man is simply giving his music away like this, when he could be making a perfectly decent living off of it-- it's that good.

This isn't just some kid who plugged in a guitar one day and decided to record some rough song ideas without another thought; this is a complete, well thought out and well composed experience that should not be taken lightly by anybody. If you decide to listen to this music, brace yourself. Don't pay any mind to the fact that it is just one guy making music at home. It sounds like a full band that was professionally recorded by a top producer such as Bottrill or Rubin. Honestly. Yeah, the production is a little rough hear and there, but that's just do to the mastering process, I'm sure. If this guy would go into a pro-quality studio and remix this thing, it could rival any mainstream release available today, possibly even surpass it.

Sound too good to be trye? Well, maybe I'm the only one here who will have this opinion of this record, but may I just say that having said that, you have absolutely nothing to lose. Go to this man's website. He's offering his entire catelogue for free download right now, so you have no excuse for not trying out this music. Personally, I think it's one of the great Post-Metal efforst ever, but perthaps I am mistaken. Eihter way, this record impressed me beyond description, and for that reason alone it is wirth listening to by anyone who is a fan of this subgenre of Prog. And you can bet that I will be listening to every other record ever released by Deterior very, very soon.

Four stars. An excellent addition to any Prog music collection. Now if only it were available to own in physical form . . .

Happy listening.

I don t think this is experimental post metal,it seems to be more experimental post rock with space rock influences.

Is not as heavy as the EPM(let us think in Cynic,Messhugah and even Tool for ex..)

You can find a combination of K Crimson,Hawkwind,Mogway,Kayo Dot,Mammatus etc..and similars.

the fault here may be that the musician play all the instruments and that i think affects in the conviction and power of the project.

3 stars