JOHN FRUM — A Stirring in the Noos (review)

JOHN FRUM — A Stirring in the Noos album cover

Album · 2017 · Technical Death Metal

3/5 · 2017-08-21
DippoMagoo

Technical death metal is one of those genres I can't say I'm an expert on or anything, but it is a genre I've had some good times with in recent years, with a few different bands such as Allegaeon, The Faceless and Fleshgod Apocalypse impressing me, for different reasons. At the same time, it's one of those genres I tend to be a bit picky with, as there's a certain balance I'm always looking for, between ultra technical musicianship, which is obviously a must for the genre, and creative and memorable songwriting, which is something I require for albums in the genre to hook me in. Some bands manage to hit that sweet spot and blow me away, while others fail to hit it and end up going forgotten rather quickly, Which brings me to American tech death band, John Frum, a kind of supergroup formed in 2011, though it took until May of 2017 for them to release their debut full length, A Stirring in the Noos. I'll admit, this album is a bit of unique case, as usually with this kind of music I can form an opinion rather quickly, where this time around I never reached a conclusion until after several listens, and I'll explain the conclusion I reached in detail below.

Looking at the lineup, all members are metal veterans, with vocalist Derek Rydquist in particular being the former vocalist of tech death band The Faceless, while bassist Liam Wilson was with mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan for 17 years. Obviously, one would expect high quality stuff from those two, and on a technical level I'd say the music on A Stirring in the Noos is definitely top notch. The riffs are very aggressive and powerful sounding, with the production striking a nice balance between sounding professional and well done, but not being over produced to the point of taking away any of the force from the instruments. There's some very technical musicianship at times, as expected, with some very complicated drum patterns, as well as some pretty complicated arrangements, with many tempo changes throughout, especially on the shorter tracks, and from a pure technical standpoint, this is a very strong release.

Vocally, Derek Rydqist is obviously very talented, as one would expect having come from a well established act like The Faceless. His main vocal style is traditional death growls, using a very deep and powerful voice which fits the music perfectly, though at times he adds in some more animated, higher pitched growls, which are also effective and fit in nicely. However, there are some points where I find he gets a bit carried way, with some very over the top screams that detract from the music a bit and can be rather distracting. This doesn't happen terribly often, but it can be rather irritating when it does happen.

Moving on to songwriting then, which ended up being the deciding factor on my enjoyment of this album. It gets off to a pretty strong start, with opener “Presage of Emptiness” being the kind of explosive, hard hitting track I can easily enjoy from this genre. The drums are absolutely crazy throughout, and stand out as the biggest highlight, along with Derek's impressive death growls, but overall it's just a very impressive and fun opener, which has several memorable moments throughout, including an awesome guitar solo near the end. If anything, “Pining Light” is even better, having tons of tempo changes throughout and being surprisingly complex and eventful, considering it clocks in at under 4 minutes. There's obviously some insane musicianship going on here, but at the same time the songwriting is very good and everything seems to work here, aside from a couple points where Derek gets just a little too over the top for my tastes.

After this point, we get the first really long track of the album in “Memory Palace”, which clocks in at over 9 minutes. The track is very dark and has some atmospheric guitar work throughout, with the opening section being entirely instrumental and not getting heavy until around the 2 and a half minute mark. I actually really enjoy this soft opening, as it serves as a nice change of pace, but as the song picks up in heaviness, it quickly falls apart, and the weaknesses of the album start to show. Where the shorter tracks have a lot going on musically, this track and other lengthy tracks on the album, tend to stay slow throughout and are surprisingly uneventful, with this one in particular dragging badly and getting boring well before it ends. It's a case where musically everything is well done, but between some over the top vocals, extreme repetition in the chords and a simple lack of hooks or anything to grab onto, it simply drags on and on and is a trial to sit through. The other really lengthy track, “Assumption of Form”, has a bit more going on, but still drags a bit, and has possibly the worst vocals on the album towards the end, during a really slow section that ends the track in a horrible way.

The rest of the album never sinks as low as those two tracks, but it also never quite reaches the heights of the first two tracks, either, and in general I find myself a bit worn out towards the end, despite the relatively short 43 minute run time. Tracks like “Through Sand and Spirit”, “Lacustre Divination” and closer “Wasting Subtle Body” each have their share of memorable moments, but fail to keep my attention the whole way through, with the latter in particular again having some annoying vocals. The one track I do thoroughly enjoy in the second half is the instrumental “He Come”, which starts out with a basic tune that gets more and more complex as it goes on, adding more elements into it, and is generally quite an impressive display of great musicianship.

On the whole, A Stirring in the Noos is a tough album for me to review, because technically everything is well done, and aside from some sections where the vocals bother me a bit, there isn't a whole lot to criticize. However, from a songwriting perspective, there are two many tracks that either drag on at a slow tempo far too long to be enjoyable for me, or go all over the place without enough memorable moments or anything to hook me in, which makes this a challenging listen. Overall, it's competent and fairly enjoyable tech death, but nothing special and not something I plan on listening to again in the near future. I do think fans of the genre should give it a try though, as it is a fairly well made album, with great production, but those who aren't overly fond of the genre probably won't find anything here to change their mind.