Album Premiere: Enter the Unbound, Avant-Garde Metal World of Spintria
And now, to quote the great Monty Python, for something completely different. Spintria, whose debut is due next week via Moonlight Cypress Archetypes, is a new avant-garde, post-modern, free-form, and and other kind of hyphenated descriptive project that hails from the murky depths of the American south. The unhinged trio emerges from the same broad musical family as the other members of the great Moonlight Cypress Archetypes label, which features some of the best black metal bands out there such as Primeval Well, Vile Haint, and others. But whereas their label-mates often deliver beautifully formed, melancholic, and distinctly American takes on the atmospheric black metal form, Spintria is more interested in undoing form, unleashing a storm of volcano-like improvisation.
And yet there's the sense of an always-shifting, always challenging sentience under these waves of freakish borderlessness. I seem to remember at one time of my writing life saying that Carcass (or any other likeminded band, though none are as good) is like a sentient marsh-ridden planet. It's all icky and gooey when you try to place your foot on solid ground, but somehow the big picture is an intelligent being with a (somewhat clear) narrative. I think I feel that way about Spintria, albeit in very different terms. The storm waves of jazz fusion, drone metal, ambient music, prog-metal hit you again and again, but not at random. This isn't to say I think every note on this special release is carefully planned, it probably isn't, but that there's a definite sense of an overarching, chaotic spirit guiding it. And whatever it is you might have to say about that spirit, it sure as hell ain't boring. At times, in fact, it's positively breathtaking.
So, if you're a fan of the kind of head-bending avant-garde metal of the Colin Martson school of mind-fuckery (Krallice, Behold the Arctopus, Dysrhythmia), while also enjoying the cosmic meltdown of a project such as Neptunian Maximalism or even Oranssi Pazuzu, then: a) you're out of your mind; b) this is a must listen; and c) let's be friends!
The self-titled debut is officially out August 22 via Moonlight Cypress Archetypes.
