SERIOUS BEAK — Huxwhukw (review)

SERIOUS BEAK — Huxwhukw album cover Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
Errr....

Genre: instrumental eclectic metal/rock

One of the interesting things about instrumental rock is that there is room for a lot of interesting experimentation with texture, melody, structure and so on. I must say that the Australian progressive band Serious Beak take full advantage of the lack of of any restrictions having a vocalist might impose on music.

A work of true eclecticism, "Huxwhukw" takes the listener through a lot of different musical expressions from the mellow gentleness of clean guitar sections (slightly akin to early Yes' softer works) over the oppressiveness of heavy sludge riff to the fury of all out chaotic grindcore blastbeating. The opener 'Baxwbakwalanuksiwé' is soft and pleasing to the ear, and the following track 'Han' seems to follow the same patter but suddenly shifts into a heavy chaotic sludge metal song and, after an atmospheric, but noise-infused, passage, an uptempo odd metered frantic riff kicks in and challenged the listener for the remainder of the song (with the exception of a coda that reprises the sludgy parts). In 'Swagger', Serious Beak further explore the darker aspects of music, as they incorporate grindcore blasting, death metal riffing, and even a bit of hardcore punk into their sound. After the more atmospheric 'Gödel !Xun', which is mellow, yet dark, (which also applies to 'Fljóta'), Serious Beak moves on to exploring rhythmic ambiguities, grooves, and sludge in 'Tuī / Tuō', while 'Anhrefn' is a flurry of riffs and dissonant chords (and features an insane Latin breakdown). 'Sporãs' continues down the same road, drawing on death metal, thrash metal, and sludge metal, and also features some King Crimson-esque breakdowns and interludes, while 'Lähendama' is an all out grindcore attack, and the closer 'Taheu Nadryvy, Taheu!' shares features with Blood Mountain-era Mastodon at their maddest.

The production is unpolished, but it suits the dynamics of this album very well - the music is quite eclectic and the compositions very dynamic in structure, so an organic production fits very well into the picture.

"Huxwhukw" is definitely a challenging listen, and prog fans who also like extreme music are probably more likely to be able to appreciate the album than prog fans who are not into extreme metal. In any case, if you are into progressive rock along the lines of Yes and King Crimson, and also like sludge metal, death metal and grindcore - and don't mind experimental music, then you are in for a treat here.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed