Review Summary: (un)organised chaos
Colin Marston seems to be somewhat of an enigma. Every passing second is littered with bands announcing their upcoming, blackened-death releases, produced and mastered by Marston. His technical prowess is constantly on display as he darts between
Krallice,
Gorguts, and
Behold... The Arctopus. As it seems, this maniacal juggle just ain't extreme enough for his demented ears, and his latest
Indricothere release has the tonal effectiveness of a wet fart in a perfume factory. The warped progressions and bizarre riffing are understandably difficult to process, but it seems Marston's solo discography has delved a tad too far into the deep end for it's own good.
In typical
Indricothere fashion,
III is somewhat abrasive; your religious aunt will be citing
Ave Maria seconds in, regardless of the total lack of screaming vocals to criticize.
Portal-esque opacity paired with unrelenting speed make for a wonderfully angry introduction to an excessively agitated record. Marston's years of experience are definitely at show here as the programmed drums are some of the most convincingly (when not entirely impossible) realistic, and suitably placed that I have ever heard. Frantic bass noodling is found at every turn, and the record on the whole boasts an intensely meticulous performance in every regard. The total disregard for a pleasurable listening experience is not only present, but enforced constantly as layers of demented harmonies stack upon each other and time signatures switch with haste. There is no time to breathe on
III, and that proves to be the album's biggest strength, and it's biggest shortcoming.
There is no denying the sheer intensity of
III is a commendable achievement. However, previous records in the
Indricothere timeline have managed to reduce the total riff count of each song a tad to allow for time to process each segment, and let more addictive hooks really sink in.
III is littered with brilliant riffing, but there is such a wide variety of extremely brief sounds that it is very easy to forget entire segments of songs, even after repeated listens. The brevity of the album compensates for the extra time required to solve it's puzzling constructions, and while the keen listener will find pleasure from learning tracks start-to-finish, there is too little in way of structure to really allow one song to stand individually next to another. The self-titled record and
II benefited from reduced track counts as Marston was able to convey more themes while still keeping songs concise. It can be difficult to know where one song ends and another begins, and while this suits the jumbled track titles perfectly, it turns much of the record into technical exercises rather than organised chaos that the previous
Indricothere presented so well.
The line between disjointed noise and masterful enigma is becoming somewhat blurred as more and more artists push extreme metal to the absolute limits. Metal is becoming just as much a mental exercise as it is a listening experience, and the end results wildly vary between audio-induced brain freeze and sheer satisfaction.
Indricothere have definitely dropped the most challenging and complex record of their discography, but at the cost of structural compromise. A gloomy tone and muddy production job are enough to piece together any missing links however. With a bit of time under looking glass,
III sets a jumbled precedence, and the genius within the madness slithers to the forefront.
