Some death metal bands showcase technicality with all the finesse of a toddler wielding an uzi, but not Gigan. Sure, Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes gets hectic at times, but their particular brand of Gorguts-meets-early Ulcerate-meets Cephalic Carnage death metal sounds refreshingly mature for such ear-destroying abrasion. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear on my life that Gigan were life-long Canucks, born & bred on None So Vile and Obscura, but it turns out they are actually neighbors with Glen Benton down in Tampa, Florida. Close enough, I guess.
There's a lot going on here - this is cerebral death metal written with the intent to blow synapses. Musically, you can prepare yourself for plenty of skewed riffery and harsh dissonance, which occasionally meanders off into lunar bleep delay territory before returning to Earth in order to shred the rest of your face off. Take one listen to the seven minute long track 'Transmogrification into Bio-Luminoid' and you'll see what I mean: lurchingly mechanical heaviness, caustic blasts of unrelenting grind, and deeply coarse vocals, all interspersed with jazzy quips of spacey ambiance. I might be a little off base, but I'd say the overall 'feel' is similar to Embryonic Devourment's Vivid Interpretations Of The Void, where the song titles alone promise elevated lyrical themes and everything seems to collide at the crossroads of astral science and ancient mythology.
Either way, I've listened to Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes a hundred times this week and still can't find the right words to do it justice, so I recommend marching straight down to Willowtip Records HQ and purchasing it for yourself. And get a shirt while you're at it, you miserable space leeches.
Tracklist:
1. Mountains Perched Like Beasts Awaiting the Attack
2. Suspended in Cubes of Torment
3. The Raven and the Crow
4. In the Tentacled Grasp of a Buried Behemoth
5. Transmogrification into Bio-Luminoid
6. Skeletons of Steel, Timber and Blackened Granite
7. Vespelmadeen Terror
8. Fathomless Echoes of Eternity's Imagination
unseen energies
*Bonus:
The Order Of The False Eye (2008)
Footsteps of Gigan EP (2007)
Posts
I have this on my iPod for about 2 or 3 weeks.. (right between General Surgery and Gone Postal) just listened to 2 or 3 tracks, but as far as i can tell this is some serious shit. I don't usually listen to that tech-grind-prog-death metal, but i think that, in this album, technically all instruments are brilliantly executed.. maybe waaay too much! I don't like to judge a book by it's cover but the minute i saw the album cover.. "monks in space?" it turns out they are not human but some alien cyborg lizards.
ReplyDeleteThanks, man. I've been meaning to check this out.
ReplyDeleteI was sold at the title alone.
ReplyDeleteMy pre-ordered vinyl has made me a happy camper for a while now. I was about to review this myself but Teufy beat me to it. It is definitely hard to sum the record up with words, but you sir have done a wonderful job. Word up. They're in town next month. Lunar bleep delay out...
ReplyDeleteI like this a lot already. I like it because it doesn't get too grindy or too jazzy but it does get really spacey. Maybe a bit unfair but maybe this is like Mithras crossed with Cynic or something? But anyways thanks for this I like it so far so good so what.
ReplyDeleteNPR is streaming that Disma album, go figure:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/2011/07/18/137709531/first-listen-disma-towards-the-megalith
Fuckin amazing record, man. Love it.
ReplyDeletefits nicely into my Space Jams playlist, which needed a bit more psychedelic stuff since internal suffering showed up and started brutaling the crap out of the other bands.
ReplyDeletethere is none more brutal than Internal Suffering.
ReplyDelete