Illogo "Return to Antimodern" CD
[self-released]
This is the debut demo from this Italian band, back when they were only using a sketchy image of a face rather than any traditional band name (they've since adopted "Illogo" for convenience). While their two other demos were four songs each and around 15 to 20 minutes, this one contains five songs and runs a massive 40 minutes in length. At this time the band's style was already atypical, drawing heavily from a huge range of influences, but it's interesting that as with everything else they've recorded nothing sounds the same. There are loose similarities between this and where they are now, but for the most part these songs are more rooted in avant-garde death metal, using lots of dual guitar interaction and dissonance with quickly shifting time signatures and riff changes. "Come to Nothing", for example, initially rolls through tons of quick death metal riffs and alternates between low growls and high-pitched snarls, which is about as close to a traditional metal song as I've ever heard from this band (while not without its more creative melodic elements and dynamics to keep it from sounding stale). "Partially Entire" is somewhat similar in its manic vocal performance, but the music is sparser and more caustic, using slower repetitious chords and again taking a more traditional road in its structure and riffing, while letting a noisier and more abrasive side be its differentiating quality (as opposed to the quirky ambience and overall strangeness that built up in "Come to Nothing"). There are a lot of electronic influences at work as well, most notably in "*", which is based around programmed beats and sparse ambient loops with a few distant samples. A little boring for nearly seven minutes, and it breaks up the listen, so... while not terrible, I definitely think this is the weak link of the demo, especially since it's the second song. 13-minute closer "Mani D'acciaio" also opens with some fast paced death metal riffing and dual guitar interaction, but it's the clean passages that really catch my ear. The song ends with 10 minutes of the same low-end loop over and over, which serves no purpose at all, but what can you do? Opener "Sperimentazione Tridimensionale" is the true standout here, however. It combines that technical and progressive sort of death metal weirdness with a jazzy sort of dynamic and more contrast between sounds, opting for whispered vocals and a more fluid song structure that carries its seven minutes very well. The recording's not bad for its age. A little muddy? Sure, and the distorted guitar tone could've stood for more natural warmth, but I can live with it. The rhythm section is too thin and the basslines are almost nonexistent in the mix, which is the most unfortunate aspect, but it's definitely listenable. The demo was originally on cassette, so the CD-R comes wrapped in the cassette sleeve, which was an impressive seven-panel foldout that's color on one side and black and white on the other. Lots of layered abstract imagery is used, including the band's emblem (and former "name') on the front cover, with a mix of strange handwriting and crisp text inside. Most of the lyrics are in Italian, but English lines such as, "Touching extreme limits of wisdom contemplated by indogermanic warriors on the top of harsh mountains covered... with blood and snow," certainly prove that this is one odd band! In the end this demo is a little raw performance-wise and lacks a focused songwriting vision, but it does display that the band's fervent sense of originality was there at the beginning, albeit not to the degree that it is now. Despite the fact that I only really enjoy one complete song here, there are some impressive riffs on this thing, and I think some of the ideas and approaches displayed could still be valuable to the band today. They've improved over time, and I'd like to see them hook up with a label, because I really think a little bit of a budget could help them bring a lot of cool ideas to fruition. (6/10)
Running time - 40:03, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Sperimentazione Tridimensionale]
Illogo - http://www.illogo.net

This review has been displayed 1402 times.