Too
weird for Agent
Scully
Imagine
something weird, something magical and truly out there or
something
hidden in the highest mountains of Nepal and you have yet to reach
the pinnacle of what Remmirath is about.
The
Slovakian's troop second full length is one of the weirdest albums
you can find in metal nowadays. Sigh wishes they would be this
exploratory and avant-garde but Mirai is probably too busy hanging
out with Mikannibal backstage. This quintet definitely went to the
Master's Hammer's school of wonders (think of their controversial
album Šlágry),
it's just one country away and everything is nearby in Europe while I
need to pack provisions for a week if I'm going out to get the
newspaper here.
I
knew that I was in for an experimental ride when I noticed that the
album had a member dedicated to and I quote “Effects,
Tingsha and
Throat
chanting”. Some
other instruments included on
the record are
the Melodica,
the
Glockenspiel,
the
Thunderbox,
the
jaw
harp, the
claves
or even
some
maracas. We're
pretty far from the traditional bass, guitar and drums setup,
friends. They
still manage to incorporate these elements gracefully, it's all over
the place, yes but not in a highly chaotic, dissonant or disorderly
manner.
Compared
to their excellent debut “Polis Rouge” released back in 2008,
this album
is less metal but
perhaps as good and
interesting.
The
six songs
release could be divided in at least two parts but let's keep it
minimal and say that the first four four tracks are an amalgamation
of extreme metal and well, everything that they managed to fit inside
their minds. This
includes ethnic world music (think Indian, Nepalese and obviously
Eastern European as the band is Slovakian), progressive metal à la
Alchemist, surf rock and Sergio Leone spaghetti western music
reminding
me of one of my favorite bands, Leeches of Lore
(listen to “The Gunfighter's Quest for Enlightment”).
Secondly, the last two songs are non-metal psychedelic explorations with strange sampled vocals and Melechesh-esque Mesopotamian rhythms. The album's ending is unusual but it's not a bad thing, it's incredible to hear an album that's so diverse but so cohesive at the same time. It almost has nothing to do with Satan's favorite music though, it's more about the Dalai-Lama playing poker in space while getting a blowjob from an Indian hooker living in Bratislava.
The opener “Tiger of the City” starts with a bang and these deep harsh vocals and includes a wide array of psychedelia. It has a vintage video-game section before going back to the melodic progressive black metal riffs that you heard early on. The metal riffs, when present, are legit, not always black metal either, it has this progressive death metal vibe from time to time. Outside of the unorthodox instruments mentioned earlier, the traditional rock music elements are through the roof. The bass is thick, highly audible, almost fret-less in its presence and the drums are varied and technically proficient. Nonetheless, these doesn't quite matter in the grand scheme of things, I was wooed by the tremendous originality of their music. It's not for everyone, probably for a small minority of people, this is uncompromising and weirder than Yoko Ono on acid.
Also,
random fact, the album was released on my birthday and I heard it on
the same day. It was a weird anniversary to
say the least!
Remmirath on Bandcamp
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