Bionatops—“Voices”
Nefarious Industries; 09/22/17—
There’s something to be said about an album containing moments where the listener shakes their head in both disbelief and laughter, and Bionatops with their full-length release Voices is just such a record. This is a musical force that is relentlessly frenetic like Deconstruction-era Devin Townsend Project meets Fantômas, but if ran through a math-metal sieve, the above mentioned reactions are completely understandable. It’s almost unfair that there are musicians out there who can play with such technical precision, but also have incredibly whimsical sensibilities. The album title stems from the lyrics centering around “a lovable schizophrenic southerner that tells tales of his life that may or may not be true while interacting with other voices in his head that might not even be in his head.” That quote was from their press release, and though it shows a lack of originality on my part by quoting it, it’s impossible for me to sum up the lyrics any better than that—especially considering that the song titles really don’t point to that direction. Though the title track, “Soured,” and “No Safe Harbor For Thieving Seals” are relentless in their own distinct form of awesomeness, it’s during the chorus of “The Great Pancake Massacre Of 1957” that really seals the deal. This band is capable of writing something with commercial melodic appeal, they aren’t just making music like this because they don’t have songwriting chops. With the total length coming in at around 35 minutes, this is a record that begs to be played multiple times in a row … so I did.—R.G.B. Robb
Comments
Post a Comment