BEHOLD... THE ARCTOPUS — Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning (review)

BEHOLD... THE ARCTOPUS — Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning album cover Boxset / Compilation · 2006 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
topofsm
What do you get when you take a three piece free form jazz band, give them metal instruments including a 12-string bass, and tell them to write the most technical music they can? The answer is Behold.. The Arctopus, who have created quite possibly the most complex music ever created. Not only are the rhythms and time signatures beyond comprehension, but there are no singable harmonies to be found, as there is little to no repition and key signatures have been thrown out the window.

Of course, if it was the most technical music ever created then it probably wouldn't be listenable. Perhaps for some they will never get this type of music. But if nobody took the time to really listen to the music and learn the subtleties and nuances, they might have dismissed some classic albums like Relayer or Brain Salad Surgery and left them as weird or crazy and thus left the albums lost to obscurity. That is why I highly reccomend repeated listenings of "Nano-Nuclear Cyborg Summoning", as after just a few listens, songs become more familiar, and in turn, reveal incredible composition abilities along with high technicality.

After a while, the newly-initiated Behold... The Arctopus fan will be able to predict the melodic playing beginning midway through the EP opener "Exospacial Psionic Aura", which actually reveals some great emotion even amidst over-the top complexity. After that, there is the spacey post-rock/metal intro to "Estrogen/Pathogen Exchange" which serves as a great intro before an explosion of sound. Another highlight is the somewhat simpler "Alchoholocaust" which could almost induce headbanging, until the band decides that the 4/4 playing really is too much and leads back into their signature insanity. The Live second half of the EP really is just a good bonus, where the same great tracks are played before a too-small audience precisely, at the musicianship level of a professional symphony orchestra.

Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning certainly won't appeal to everyone. But for those who decide to give it a go and take the time to learn the subtleties of the music, a whole new world of music will be opened up to them, where over-the-top technicality and atonal noises can sound absolutely beautiful.
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