Polyphia and Animals As Leaders - Rennaissance vs The Madness Of Many

Sweet! Records from my siblings in law. Good ones, too, from the Instrumental Prog-Metal section, Polyphia and Animals As Leaders. In all seriousnees, if you were going to make me choose between Tim Henson and Tosin Abasi, i'm probably going to pick Tosin and Animals As Leaders every time, only because Tim's guitar stylings tend to edge a little too close to Sandal Core for my personal liking, whereas Tosin just bashes you across the face with a shovel, but in reality all 4 people (Tosin, Tim, Javier, and Scott) are phenomenal guitarists with exceptional melodic sensibilities and an unwillingness to phone anything in.


I'm quite enjoying Polyphia's Rennaissance, but there is a thing i do not like upon first hearing. There's a fair bit of digital manipulation on the leads, not surprising within a Metalcore framework, but i can't think of any other way to express it, it sounds like the guitar is gargling; all the more disconcerting against the spanky and luscious middleground clean tones and harmonics. It's almost like the solos have smoker's cough. Not saying it's a deal breaker, but it will take a couple listens to get used to hearing it.

No, what actually throws me off is the interpretational clash of the fast, djenty, hyper-technical textural playing with the calm, New Agey, almost sentimental melharmonic ideas. They don't blend in my brain. 

Don't get me wrong, it's super-listenable, incredibly smooth, and borderline euphoric (not to mention downright funky at times), but i can't help feeling like it's supposed to be secretly hostile and deceptively violent, and i'm therefore hearing it wrong. That's my problem with Sandle Core, i find it hard to accept you're happily buzzed and napping through armageddon in a beach chair. I sure hope Animals As Leaders can clear that up.


Oh yeah, Arithmaphobia (fear of numbers) is straight up sinister. Scanning through the tracklist, we're in for plenty more Cognitive Contortions, a face that needs a fist, and we'll end up having a panic attack from fear of eternity. This i understand without any need for repeated wikitube interviews of a heavily tattooed guy who loves puffy mom sweaters. Not that any of that's bad, i just feel like i instinctively get Animals As Leaders while Polyphia is intentionally Superflat, and thus ungettable. The aesthetic matches the drapes, i guess, and i don't have to put forth any effort to thoroughly enjoy and understand where the brain melting shred and uber-complexity fit into the equation, they are the actual subject matter. The Madness Of Many is outstanding.

Thanks Andi and Jules, it might not sound like it, but i enjoy both albums immensely.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 4 Seasons - The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette

Image
This might be my longest  album review ever. But i swear a couple times, so it's worth the read ;) How could i possibly mention Jefferson Airplane, The 4 Seasons, and Frank Zappa in the same context? Zappa said "this is rediculous" and a few years later The 4 Seasons said "you know what, Frank is right. This IS ridiculous." To which Jefferson Airplane said, "Oh. Ok. Got it." The real question is: which one is the most transgressive? Zappa said stop fighting, you look like idiots. Jefferson Airplane said i guess if love and community is a bad thing, then sure we're criminals and we'd be happy to move out into the fields and live peaceful lives without your garbage, let us go already. The 4 Seasons said hold my champagne for a moment. In 1969, The 4 Seasons released the single most ironic, acidic, extravagant, and downright befuddling album ever created, The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette. Zappa was accused of writing "shitty doo-w
Read more

Welcome to my blog, and my record collection.

This is a blog about my love of listening to albums. It started off as a nightly perusal of my dad's record collection (which sadly became mine) on my personal facebook page. Over the last two months it has become quite an enjoyable process of simply ranting about what i think is a real art form, the album. It needs a more permanent home. Some of my reviews are positive, some negative. They might not be what you expect from album reviews, but i hope you at least find them entertaining. For the most part i do very little research, and they tend to be train of thought reactions rather than calculated essays. If nothing else, know that i'm really listening to them and whether they are amazing or abysmal i want you to go listen to them too.  I'll start migrating the 60+ i've written so far over here in the next few days, and hopefully get to the point where i just start writing them here. I'd probably even take suggestions if you're just dying to know my tho
Read more

Pat Benatar - Seven The Hard Way

Image
I don't know about you, but i love Pat Benatar. Yes, that's also her debut album with the single most underrated song in the universe (My Clone Sleeps Alone) in the background, but that's just a generic non-self-titled debut album. We're jumping ahead to her 6th album, Seven The Hard Way, because that, ladies and gentle germs, is how you kalaidescope a concept. Not one, not two, not three, but 4 protien-packed layers to this metaphor. You don't really need to know the overly complicated rules of Craps to know that A) it's gambling, B) "the hard way" refers to rolling doubles, so good luck rolling two 3.5s, and C) you're going to lose, one way or another. It's a joke, but more importantly, it's Pat Benatar and the roll out is Sex As A Weapon, so the innuendo is not intended to be subtle. Wait wait wait, that's only 3, Bottle, where's 4? You're right, last but not least, side B opens with Seven Rooms of Gloom, a Holland-Dozier-Hol
Read more