Review Summary: Sunlight peering through your eyelids.
Botanist is a musical project, essentially consisting of a touring ensemble based around the songwriting of American musician Otrebor, that has been hard at work while I've been nowhere to be found. In my many hours scouring the rabbit hole that is the internet, I can't even recall where it was I caught wind of this album, but what it is doing in the vast and varied world of black metal is particularly noteworthy. Botanist is unlike anything I have ever heard and in VI: Flora they have created an album that distinguishes itself as something completely unique.
Unconventionally, this band does not use much in the way of guitars, instead opting bravely to put hammered dulcimers in the forefront of their sound while claiming to represent the 'Verdent Realm' in an homage to nature and plants specifically. Sounds a little ***y, right? Well, it is- and it is awesome.
The band's previous releases are proof that Otrebor isn't trying to emulate his influences, rather he is transforming them into a whole different animal. With VI: Flora, he has crafted a fluid and cohesive theme that runs throughout the album without any of the drawn out interludes or bridges of the past. This album is a step up in overall songwriting that should be met with praise and excitement from fans of their previous work.
Bright, unrelenting passages of dulcimers are reminiscent of dream-like keyboards shrilling right over the top of a grand bouquet of percussion and almost-muted black metal shrieking. The drums and the dulcimers compete for the spotlight; the drums with their consistent ability to be efficient yet complex and the dulcimers with their glaring variance and piercing presence. If I must describe the sound, I'd consider it a sonic representation of closing your eyes in the sunlight and basking in the beauty of the wind in your face and the earth beneath your feet.
Words really can't explain the sound of this band or this album. You'll just have to listen for yourself to see what the atmosphere does to you, just be prepared to go on a journey like no other.
