Review Summary: It has been almost four years since Amogh Symphony's last defining album, and now Vishal J. Singh and Jim Richman have emerged with the deepest showcase of their versatility and creativity yet, abandoning garden-variety tech-death sensibilities for the st
Amogh Symphony has done weird, avant-garde stuff before, but not much can fully prepare you for the opening track, alone, "Desolate" (TRACK 1, 2.5/4), a creepy, dronescape and industrial-style ambient piece that evolves from striking, tinny clash sound effects into a crescendo which incorporates a simple organ riff, then a digital dream beat, and then a stinging string section, before breaking back into its basic form of the tinny clashes, accompanied briefly by surreal, well, groaning. Musically speaking, I don't know what to make of the piece, but as far as the composition and atmosphere are concerned, it's a hypnotic hook that doesn't get too caught up in its experimentalism, further reduced in the subsequent track, "Junaki, Osinaki. Dhumuha, Saki." (TRACK 2, 3.5/5), which occasionally gets a pinch weird, and is always some degree of disconcerting, due to its metallic nature, yet is surprisingly airtight to juggle so many layers, gripping with technically virtuous and complexly dynamic guitarwork and rhythm (Vishal J. Singh delivers an impressive, lo-fi guitar solo around the tree-and-half-minute mark, and a soaring steel slide solo about a minute later, at the finale), captivating with a symphonic string section and ethereal wordless vocal spots, entrancing with jazzy piano work and atmospherics, and simply boggling your mind with a free jazz horn section. This journey of an exploration of various tech/prog-metal, ambient, classical, jazz and experimental styles is so daring, so unique and so ambitious, yet it's so tightly orchestrated, remarkably well-played and meticulously arranged that, even with the awkward moments, it feels effortless in its remarkable artistic achievement, and being a worthy prelude to how experimental music ought to be approached throughout this album. Alas, Vishal Singh's ambitious mind tends to wander too deeply into its experimentalism, especially in something like "Consume ectoplasm before it runs, resume chakras because it burns." (TRACK 3, 1.5/3) and "We are here, they are here, sector of nectar, feeding vector." (TRACK 4, 1.25/3), which are largely disjointed, one-minute-and-something-long exercises in avant-garde mixing and sampling, with the former being saved by a relatively extended segment of mesmerizing minimalist neo-classicism between a intro that is just noisy technical mishap, and a body comprised of random samples and mixing effects, while the latter offers nothing to redeem its incoherent string of nonsense. It's all in the atmosphere with "Consume Ectoplasm" and "Feed the Vector", and I would be a lot more willing to get attached to that if the two pieces were actually played in the context of something, rather than indulgent, if respectably audacious, avant-garde plays with sound.
Much more grounded, yet still more avant-garde than "Junaki, Osinaki", is "Bliss of the weak, strength to the peak, teach for humble, soil will rumble." (TRACK 4, 2.75/4), a new-age piece that pretty impressively blends uplifting serenades with neatly bleak tones, and backing it all up with a few nifty sound effects and technically impressive, sometimes jazzy leads, until a surprisingly jaunty, almost lightly festive climax. This is more like what the strictly ambient pieces should be aiming for, because even though it is still a little too weird for its own good, it does, in fact, end up ranking among the most grounded pieces on the album, alongside "Junaki, Osinaki", and the still far-from-fully-grounded instrumentals "Mayamohey bhora, aey dhorat." (TRACK 8, 2.5/4), "Tongue of fire, burning wings, torment dormant, breaking black rings." (TRACK 9, 2.5/4), and "Weather report, shortening of days, change their minds, clash of rays." (TRACK 10, 2.75/4), whose atmospherically captivating and instrumentally proficient avant-garde jazz moments, and abrasive, but fast-pace tech-death occasions punctuate often unnerving and just as often artistically intriguing experimentalism, with "Weather report" having some particularly beautiful points in electronic and classical ambience. Even more playful with its fusion of structured music and experimentalism is "1289, Voyeur Will Shine, Fight for Distinction, Evolution Is Mine." (TRACK 6, 3.25/5), a much more modernist, rather disjointed progression that, along a path of crescendos, slow-downs and freneticism, prominently juggles, not so much mixing noise, but frenzied songwriting, justified by tight arrangement spots and, of course, by outstanding musicianship that encompasses the vibrancy of jazz, the complexity of prog, the wildness of extreme tech-metal, and all sorts of other styles in a remarkable manner, especially when it comes to Singh's amazing bass performance, and Jim Richman's just-as incredible drum performance. After all of the real musical experimentalism, rather than toying with sampling and assorted post-production tinkering, the track goes out with a little bit of nonsense, before dovetailing into one of the more interestingly traditionalist tracks on the album, "Osir" (TRACK 7, 1.5/3), a minimalist classical, echoing broken cello solo that is effectively terrifying in atmosphere, but is, well, pretty sloppy, artistically overblown, and inconsequential, not quite like its counterpart on track 11, a driving, gothic piano solo that is occasionally disjointed, and doesn't have the atmosphere of "Osir", but is more energetic and technically impressive. I do not fully distinguish this track, for it is just the first phase in "Maatir manuh ami, Maatirey jibon, matirey gao joyogaan" (TRACKS 11-12, 3/5), yet another epic of an exploration of experimental music-making that is awkward, not just in its jarring about with tonal and focal dynamicity, but in its often alternating between a hint of dullness, and the overwhelming abrasions and inconsistencies of technical death metal, along a rather overlong and repetitious course whose monotony ultimately holds the piece back, even with its technically killer, if frenetic instrumentation. The pseudo-epic is pretty good, but with its either being too avant-garde to thrill, or too abrasive to be atmospherically captivating, or even all that musically attractive, it doesn't feel as realized as most of the pieces in this showcase, and the final piece, "Onamika" (TRACK 13, 3.25/5), isn't too much more coherent, although, make no mistake, it is more realized for what it is: a largely atmospheric progression that flows in and out of prominent ambiences amidst progressive and jazz metal, catchy electronics, and other tightly composed styles that, while only occasionally technically killer, embody the general direction of this showcase in a mellow way that make it a somewhat aimless, but ultimately sufficient album closer, in spite of the awkward ending.
Starting out strong with the interesting hook of "Desolate" and the truly outstanding "Junaki, Osinaki. Dhumoha, Saki.", and eventually culminating with impressive, but disjointed and under-inspired pieces, the album seems to gradually descend in inspiration and quality as it goes along, but really, I'm not entirely sure that the arrangement of this showcase matters all that much, because what this album is mainly aiming to be, more than any of Amogh Symphony's previous experimental explorations, is a journey, through musical creativity and atmospheric soundscapes, that is brilliant in concept, and in execution, though to only a certain extent, before the ambitions become overblown. "Consume ectoplasm before it runs, resume chakras because it burns." and "We are here, they are here, sector of nectar, feeding vector." are decent in their being so stylistically intriguing, but they are the grossest examples of indulgently avant-garde over-production in the showcase, pinnacles in overstylization which plagues this album throughout its course, making the electronics, sequencing and production experiments feel disconcerting and disingenuous, the indulgently technical instrumentation abrasive, and the bleak, gothic atmospherics anything from a little bland to simply too creepy. Vishal J. Singh's vision is blemished, but more misguided than flawed, because Singh and, to a lesser extent, Jim Richman are very aware of what they're doing, and much more often than not, that, with the help of cleanly defined, tightly arranged sound mixing, fulfills this showcase's goal of being an experimental exercise in crafting musical landscapes that are highly atmospheric and immersive in their encompassing anxiety, surrealism, emotion and beauty. The minimalist classicism is enchanting, if occasionally nerve-wracking, and the ambiences are hypnotic, evidence of Singh's being as much a genius of great ingenuity as an atmospheric composer as he is a complex modernist musical songwriting, whose wild and intricately and often abrasively indulgent arrangement is justified by phenomenal musicianship. Richman is a precise, energetic and rhythmically proficient drummer who gives listeners more-than competently crafted insight into the fascinating versatility of drumming techniques, and as for Singh, his having enough patience and discipline to be most of his own instrumental personnel is remarkable enough, while tonally grinding rhythm guitarwork fail to overshadow the man's amazing, classical and jazz-influenced playing technique, just as powerful basswork hooks with its tight rhythmicity and equally stellar technicality, and rich keyboard plays range from particularly distinguished components to a piece's atmosphere, to haunting piano pieces that further define the raw essence of this journey into a true musical artist's mind. The sheer versatility and, above all, originality of this album, and this project altogether, for that matter, are as impressive as anything, and keep in mind that no matter how misguided Singh's and Richman's vision may get, "Vectorscan" is rich with very, very impressive elements, as a testament to the depths of audacious musical artists' experimental mindsets, a showcase of dynamic and virtuous musicianship, and as a revelatory comeback for Amogh Symphony that secures the project as an experimental music and progressive metal acts out there to really keep an eye on.
3.5/5
