Review Summary: A colorful mess
Each note in a song equates to a brushstroke on a surface. Floral is the audial equivalent of a three dimensional Aboriginal dot painting. They create a rich texture that climbs hills and then cascades down them in a waterfall of notes, bombarding the listener frequently with erratic changes in tempo and elevation. Getting lost in the rush of the ascent is easy and feeling the thrill of the resulting rush downhill is like the wind to your back.
It’s a math rock album though and this is to be expected, almost guaranteed when a group has sufficient technical ability. The idea of the genre is to be as pointillistic as possible and when the audience views the piece with a great enough scope, they see what the artist was trying to convey. The issue with this being, you can’t take enough steps back to see what vision Floral had.
This album is best enjoyed fifteen seconds at a time with no expectations of anything thematic. Every vibrant riff and whiplash-inducing tempo change piles upon one another without any discernible end goal. The album is like a deck of shuffled cards, they can be arranged in any order and still be used for the same intended purpose. Although each dot is painstakingly placed, the entire amalgamation equates to nothing more than a handful of blistering riffs strung together by playful interludes.
This raises the question, does it really matter if Floral put out a holistic work? It depends on the listener and perhaps ideology. Maybe you live your life fifteen seconds at a time, in which case this album would be able to hold your attention for the entirety of the fifteen minute run-time. If you crave structure, a bit of sensibility and an overarching plan, this album may be the actual bane of your existence. Whether you subscribe to either worldview I think most will find a way to enjoy the beautiful mess that Floral has given us.
