BRAINIAC PROTO-PROG SLUDGESTERS INVADE LOWER MANHATTAN: MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT, INTRONAUT, & BEHOLD…THE ARCTOPUS @ THE KNITTING FACTORY, NYC — 8/8/08
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 5:55pm by Kip Wingerschmidt
It’s bloody amazing how much more accepted intelligent aggressive music has become, doncha think? Of course there are always still the outright pussballz in any audience who start trembling every time a vocalist strays ever so slightly away from straight-up singing into yelling, screaming, or dare I even say *growling* territory (I’m sadly lookin at so many of the GFs out there, mine included)–but it seems like these daze everyone and their mom’s moms–even the grimier-than-thou hipsterati–have caught on to rocking significantly harder than “hard rock”. And so it stands to reason that the smartie-fartie Encyclopedia Browns of the world, on both the musician and fan side of the monitors, are proudly representing brainiac metal with their hearts and (large) minds, even if the music is not always so accessible as a result of dem der smarts.
Take Intronaut, for example — who incidentally have a brand-new album, Prehistoricisms, out TODAY (look for my review later in the week) — in my esteemed opinion one of the most intelligent of the heady metal bands out there nowadays: skilled, fluid players who are comfortable grooving in all sorts of odd time signatures…these guys have been called “the future of metal” by Decibel Magazine (or Revolver, honestly can’t remember, please forgive me) and deservedly so, but really how far can the band’s scope reach with so much bloomin… headiness in tow?
John McLaughlin is perhaps the most purposeful shredder I have ever heard. And nowhere is that more apparant than in the opening tracks of his supergroup’s seminal albums.
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Take yerself a toke….and check this shiat out.
MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA – “Miles Beyond”
