A bizarre creature hatched from eggs laid at the turn of the century, where black metal tore away from the entrapment of convention to seek out new shapes and forms. What is born: a n outlandish beast of staggering complexity morphing into uncontrolled chaos, vomiting things of discordant and otherworldly beauty. Or, to be blunt: a mind-fucking kaleidoscope post-black metal mess.
A case of acute and spasmodic spontaniety, the listener is thrown into a tumble-dryer of juxtaposed sound/music sources. 50 shades of electronica tying up and flogging torrents of swirling and complex black metal whilst receiving oral pleasure from a high brow music conservatory student. I still haven’t understood how the actual songs connect as distinct separate units; that seems to be the wrong approach. Stagnant Waters would benefit more to be approached as a series of experimental expressionist thoughts, creative explosions that emanate from a collision of hyperactive minds. What does it mean? Where is it going? What does it want? Somehow, such profound questions are effectively rendered meaningless when indulging in this album. It’s a flow or a state of mind, rather than a narrative of carefully divided chapters and segments.
Think Aphex Twin remixing late Emperor with Erik Satie standing by. Or, the answer to what would happen if Yusuf Parvez, John Zorn and Scott Hull where thrown into a room with a random London drum&beat producer. You have free jazz. You have glitch. You have dubstep. You have chiptunes. You have symphonic art music. You have dissonant, deviant post-black metal. You have hardcore. You have everything. Black metal dadaism. That said, it is at times – at wrong moods, perhaps – pretty goddamn annoying; it’s a demanding work of art that forces you to listen and react. There are spaces for breathing, it’s not all chaos. Solitary pianos and strings. Echoes. Despite the “crazy” and irreverent sense of humour that instills the album, there is little joking around here. Beneath all the turmoil, the core of the album is brooding and dark. It’s nocturnal, desperate, frantic. It’s downright sad, even. And it’s one of a kind. Many try to be weird, eclectic, whatever, most fail, burying themselves under heaps of moronic meaninglessnesses. But STAGNANT WATERS, they have it.
This album is quite beyond.
-aVoid
VITALS:
Release: 2012-10-29
Label: Adversum
Avantgenre: Multi-coloured Intensity
Duration: 37 Minutes
Origin: France / Norway
Official site: None
Review online since: 30.10.2012 / 09:31:39
TRACKLIST:
1. Algae
2. (-)
3. Of Salt And Water
4. Castles
5. Concrete
6. Bandaged In Suicide Notes
7. Axolotl
8. From The Breaking Neck To Infinity
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