KAYO DOT - Hubardo

A lonely Poet and the Eye of Leviathan

Are you proud of yourself, Toby Driver? Are you satisfied with having me as your eternal and devoted follower, speechless in the face of Hubardo's grandeur? If these questions were ever to reach Toby, I imagine the answer to them as follows: "Yes, we did it, we have transmuted the gleaming stone that fell from the moonless sky. Essence and forms blossomed beautifully from the eye of Leviathan and merged into this ever morphing sculpture of sounds. You can almost see it once you close your eyes, open your heart and let the ear follow the chisel."

In a way, Hubardo encompasses everything that Toby Driver has ever done with maudlin of the Well, Kayo Dot and Tartar Lamb, but in fact it is so much more. It's an individual, conceptual work and while it obviously sounds like something made by Kayo Dot, it is more adventurous, dense and technical than anything they've done before. To be completely honest, it's impossible to describe an album with total playing time of almost 100 minutes, that flows like a poem and stirs the soul with whole range of emotions. A record that stupefies with passionate outbursts of experimental extremity, seamlessly evolving into haunting chamber rock passages or krautrock psychedelia. I can't even fathom out how avant-garde jazz and fusion, chamber post-rock, experimental black metal and psychedelic rock can be so beautifully blended together and yet stay so consistent. More than that, Hubardo reaches and goes beyond any horizons; it crushes boundaries and escapes any classification except for one: Art that comes to existence out of pure need of creation itself; need to channel the ephemeral creative fire into an immortal work. And, as if that weren't enough, the album boasts some of the most intriguing ambiance and lyrics I've ever encountered. Ah, so much could be said about this surreal, otherworldly atmosphere and creative freedom. Freedom so moving and spontaneous, despite the staggering complexity of the music it gave birth to.

Hubardo, the seventh album by the avant-chamber-rock/experimental metal band Kayo Dot, is the ultimate evidence that music is boundless. It's one of those rare pieces of art that are so unique and passion driven, that any attempt to analyze and deconstruct it backfires on the reviewer. Even though you may stay indifferent to the beauty of Hubardo, you can't deny its singularity and sheer compositional genius of Kayo Dot. As far as I am concerned, I'm so deep in love with this wondrous album, that I feel ashamed by the very fact of publishing this review. A review that will not do Hubardo enough justice.

DISTORTED HARMONY - Utopia

Six pieces of noble cheese

Traditional progressive metal is often considered to be cheesy, stagnant and derivative. Let's see... "traditional" and "progressive". Not a very fortunate choice of words. Isn't the first one an antonym of the other one? Well, it is, usually. Distorted Harmony managed to bend the rules of semantics though. UTOPIA is dripping with traditional prog metal elements - keyboards, synths and virtuosity. All this, however, is just a wrapping for some really well-crafted, inventive and emotionally charged metal music.

As usual, production is not without significance. What often bothers me about modern prog releases, is that the sound feels overproduced and artificial. Fortunately, UTOPIA's sound is indeed polished yet infused with a healthy dose of organic sharpness and spiced with a pinch of old-school prog rock softness. As a result, all assets of the album - intricate passages, theme changes with underlying symphonic prog basis - are well highlighted.

"Apparently Michael Bublé wouldn't be so dull if he stopped rehashing ideas of Frank Sinatra and started a prog metal band." That's what I thought right after hearing Misha Soukhinin's voice in "Kono Yume". His vocals are one of the best things about Distorted Harmony, no joke! Expressive, well trained and original. Especially when compared to typical prog metal vocalists, trying to sound like James LaBrie or Geoff Tate. Misha's voice reminds me of Michael Bublé (darn, I feel like I shouldn't be saying this) and his timbre suits the music very well. As for the music, UTOPIA consists of six intricate compositions, deeply rooted in classic progressive metal and underlaid with strong symphonic prog rock element. All that tinged with Opeth's eclectic approach to harmony and... some pop catchiness. At times I feel like some of the cheesy parts could have been avoided but as a whole, UTOPIA is a top-notch progressive metal release.

I'm not by any means a fan of traditional progressive metal. I don't like Dream Theater and Queensrÿche get on my nerves. Still, I really like this album. So, even if you're not into this sub-genre of metal music, give Distorted Harmony a chance to, ermm... distort your tastes... clumsy pun, eh?

CLOUDKICKER - Fade

Wordless poetry

Ben Sharp continues with his solo, hovering hundreds of meters above the ground, weaving wordless stories about the world from a bird's perspective. The only thing we know about the whole creative process, is that it's set in the American airspace. Cloudkicker's third full-length album is just that: American airspace post-rock ambient-djent metal. That requires some explanation, I guess...

In the previous album Ben Sharp created a simple yet mesmerizing collection of post-rock songs. Even though his latest release may be considered as a return to the roots, it's still a logical step forward from its predecessor. FADE is basically an outcome of putting LET YOURSELF BE HUGE and BEACONS together. The atmosphere is dreamy yet tense, reminding me of the feeling you get while looking at the world through an airplane window. While on BEACONS the ambiance was determined by the album's dark concept, here it's rather reminiscent of loose impressions from a flight or trip across the States. The feeling of freedom you get while on the road, melancholy and anxiety triggered by the city's night panorama, loneliness in a nameless crowd - all that can be found in FADE.

Even though the music can bother me sometimes with its American pop-punk undertones, post-rock climaxes crafted by Ben Sharp are emotional to say the least. Ambient parts impart even more of ethereal feel to the album which makes it a soothing listen despite its undeniable heaviness. Most of all though, Cloudkicker finally found a happy medium between repetition and variety of themes. It's a well composed and varied post-metal album and I can safely say it's Ben Sharp's best.

- Available for download at any price at http://cloudkicker.bandcamp.com -

NEUROSIS - Given to the Rising

"I Would Rather Be Ashes Than Dust!"

They are still standing there. Immovable monoliths lashed by storms and parched with scorching sun, oblivious to trends and expectations, the gods of post-metal are still sending shivers down the spine of the world. Neurosis are like a raging storm, consistent yet ever changing, predictable yet still brooding and menacing. No matter how many times you have seen it coming, it fascinates you all the same.

On one hand, the tenth offering from Neurosis is a return to the TIMES OF GRACE sound. Once again raw sludge, doom metal and industrial merge into their inimitable style. On the other hand, post rock echoes of the two previous albums are also audible here. Actually, the only thing that distinctly separates Neurosis albums from each other is the atmosphere. This one is not an exception. GIVEN TO THE RISING is dark and dry like the Canyonlands covered with silver moonlight. A gloomy feel of spiritualism animates this album, shapes its soul in an elegant, understated way. It might be darker and more psychedelic than their previous records, but at the same time it's more sophisticated and restrained in its outbursts of brutality. It somehow reminds me of "There Will Be Blood" by Paul Anderson - sparing with means of expression, almost minimalistic, it's still extremely haunting and evocative.

I can see why this album is revered by the fans despite being a step backwards from THE EYE OF EVERY STORM. Being progressive is not a quality in itself. We often criticize artists for getting stale, but what they really do is loose the passion. If you create music with all your heart and soul, it doesn't really matter if it's progressive or not. Music like that is always fascinating.