Metal Reviews

Review:

Phew. Just when I have recovered from multiple listenings of Lye By Mistake’s Arrangements For Fulminating Vective and Genghis Tron’s Dead Mountain Mouth, along comes Pennsylvania’s An Albatross. They deliver a sonic barrage of trippy 70s haze, caustic post modern chaos core/grind and flat out brilliant bizarreness that rocks like Ween and Estradasphere on a really bad acid trip while mutually masturbating Daughters and The Locust.

Replacing Lye By Mistake’s free form jazz and Genghis Tron’s techno beats, is the frenetic and often discombobulating Farfisa and Hammond organs which jam with hallucinogenic chaos while Eddie Gieda shrieks and screams with not so genre bending angst and is backed by multiple layers of programming and typically caustic and jarring guitars. Of course it’s a bit heavy of the “Woohoo! Hey! Look how quirky and bizarre we are!”, but if the shoe fits...

It’s all initially a bit too weird and often the album is a disjointed mess, but also at times, when An Albatross settle into some form of short-lived consistent chaos. Examples of this can be heard on tracks like “Hairobics”, “Feastgiver”, “Cosmic Gypsy”, “Stormbringer”, “The Ballad of the Electric Coyote” and the hugely enjoyable instrumental opener “In the Court of the Bear King” but those moments are often cut short by random spurts of over the top fits of overly quirky chaos (“Dimensional Gymnastics”, “Trust the Sun, The Symphonic Sunrise”, “Divine Birthrite (Maiden Voyage of the Grape Ape)”, “II. Profane Illumination”), that though certainly gregariously unique, don’t offer more than a few seconds of enjoyment.

This is one of those albums you love or loathe. For me it’s an album that depending on my mood could be in my top ten of the year (if I happened to ever overdose on LSD and ‘Shrooms) or never listen to again (when deeply involved in the mind numbing ruts of reality), but I gather the duality that an alternative conscience provides is the ultimate goal of this band. But I get the impression that listening to this album while stoned off your ass may result in some really odd and dangerous behavior, so you have been warned.

Hmm proper grind kind of bores me i mean sometimes when i am in the mood i listen to Nasum, Rotten Sound or Pig Destroyer but i cannot listen to them all the time..
Instead An Albatross is more melodic, more fun and diverse..
Thats why i like it more..

But i havent still got bored of the tech death.. So many fucking bands out there!

Well yes and power metal all sounds the same, as well as black metal and thrash.... :roll:

Not as much as tech-death does. It's so samey! Do you not find that?

Well no, cause then I wouldnt listen to it...
I mean it is the best genre IMO because the individual song is diverse and not straightforward so i find something different everytime i listen to it.
Of course there are tech death bands and tech death bands.

Not as much as tech-death does. It's so samey! Do you not find that?

That Genghis Tron the reviewer speaks about is awesome as well, I highly recommend you people to check it out!

I got Cloack of Love. Didn't really grab my interest.

This is bullshit. The best grind album this year is the one that Napalm Death is gonna release. I'd put my money on that.

Wait is Napalm Death converting again into a grind band? Cause i like their death metal era much better, even though i adore scum.

Have you heard The Code...? I'd say that was more 'corey than deathy, in a good way.

Hmm i listened to it but dont really remember it.. Ill recheck it out later maybe..