Textures "Polars" CD
[Listenable]
Nice! Here's some ripping technical/progressive death/thrash from The Netherlands that combines the rhythmic time signatures and chunkiness of Meshuggah with a jazzy experimental edge that manipulates lush clean guitars layered against distortion and throws in plenty of energetic riffing. The chief vocals are higher-end sneers reminiscent of Martyr (but better - they actually fit the music), but there' some singing as well (usually during the passages that use clean guitars). But the cool thing is that despite obvious influences and parallels, this has an original twist to it, because some of the weirder moments are tangible but definitely really different from what other bands of this nature have done in the past. It's got a progressive/jazzy edge, but it's bizarre the way the effects and counterparts interact together. I love the fucked up chords these guys break out sometimes as well, there are lots of unusual note combinations that ring through with a great sense of unique disharmony. "Young Man" opens with what basically amounts to a tighter and thrashier melodic Swedish death metal riff, but thankfully the core of this material has nothing to do with that stale genre at all. The drumming is absolutely awesome too, constantly moving and adding in extra flare with spicy cymbal work and fucking slick fills that roll all over the place effortlessly with perfect precision. And fuck, even the saxophone in "Transgression" sounds amazing... almost any progressive metal band can take a sax and fuck up a song in a heartbeat, but these dudes know what the hell they're doing here! The title track is an 18+ minute monolith complete with slower, chugging rhythm power and tons of drawn out instrumental passages, some of which revolve mainly around ambient synths and swelling guitar notes - which makes up the entirety of the 14-minute closing instrumental "Heave". The recording is super clear and precise, I wouldn't really mess with much. The guitar tone is stellar - totally crunchy and honed, the drums have a good sense of resonance and crispness, the vocals are placed just about where they should be, etc. Keyboards are used better than the vast majority of these acts as well, accenting the tracks without overpowering or being overused just for the hell of it. The bass is the one thing that, while evident and important, lacks the prominence and flare that the other elements are granted, so I'd like to hear that aspect meet up with the other instrumentation. The layout combines landscape photos with images of gears and mechanical inner workings and such, which looks alright. Could be better, could be worse. In a weird way the lyrics almost have a narrative sort of quality to them, but they just don't interest me in the end, "Recommend no further memory, Not a glimpse of should have been, Only the promised years to come, Transgression will come to an end..." There's a CD-Rom mini website with a bio, photos, and a video for "Ostensibly Impregnable" that's basically live footage against the studio recording, but it all looks fairly nice. This is one of the better CD's of its ilk that I've come across in quite some time. Definitely recommended for fans of the technical side of the genre, as they're excellent musicians and strong writers to boot. (8/10)
Running time - 55:55, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Swandive, Young Man, Transgression, Polars]
Listenable Records - http://www.listenable.net

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