(Behold...epic nerdery shreddage)
This one is for the nerds. This one is for those geeks that went to music school and get off on senseless Mixolydian mode improvisation.(ok-my fave is Phrygian-so SHOOT ME) Fucking mathematician magicians, guitar-weilding wizards.
(bet you my mom is super stoked this is still on her desktop...HAHAHA MOM)
Picture this: I'm standing in front of the stage, with this dude that HAS to be like, 21 at most, with what he refers to as his "12-string Hell-Harp" (Warr Guitar=this fucking crazy ass tap guitar thingy that covers both bass and guitar fretboards-for serious nerds only-see top pic) my mouth wide open, yes-drool might have escaped momentarily. I couldn't headbang, I couldn't throw horns, I couldn't make invisible fruits of seasonal variety. I couldn't.
Behold...the Arctopus. What the hell is an ARCTOPUS anyways? Holy flaming shitballs, Crapman. These dudes are from Cananda. (is there something with me and Canadians? Do I need to move there?)
(Giger much?)
I saw this band last year and they kinda blew my mind. I'm not really into all that technical/progressive/extreme metal stuff, (Ok-of course I love the sci-fi shit like Voivod, but I'm talking more speed metal like Nile or Necrophagist or something- I get a little lost) I'm a space truckin' kinda girl, you know? I don't think I could even put together exactly what was being laid before me, but the sheer craziness of the S.H.R.E.D.D.E.R. (Shit is Hard, Rad, Extreme, Dangerously Dirty, Explosive and Rad) that seemed to invisibly pluck every note in circular form hit home.In all honesty, I don't really listen to their music a whole lot (it's literally un-headbangable it's so extreme), but you should check it out...if you're a nerd. I mean, they mention Arnold Schoenberg, Luciano Berio and Bela Bartok (<---dude, Peter get on it) as a few of their influences. In fact, they often compose songs with Schoenberg's 12 tone technique. Woah. That's some epic meganerdom right there. Just watch this video, behold:
(try not to focus on the drummer's douchewand haircut, I dare you)
These dudes write down all their songs on sheet form. Which is amazing. That must take for fucking ever. With altering time measures of 5/4 and 6/4 and 11/8 within one song, and titles such as "You Will Be Reincarnated As An Imperial Attack Space Turtle" they won my heart, if nothing else. That is just adorable.
Anyways, there's not really a huge point to this pathetic post; as usual, just me ranting about some fucking band I saw once upon a time. It's more for me than you, as I can't remember most bands I've seen; (due to the vast radness that is my life) blogging has become somewhat of a memoir for me. So I don't forget, you know? I still think you dweebs are gonna pop a boner for a minute over these ones. Two whole albums of non-stop skull grinding classical worship. DO.IT.
Get to school, you NERD!
nano-nucleonic cyborg summoningLove,
Manslaughter
I think the biggest merit of Behold the Arctopus isn't their technicality but that their music is composed and quite memorable for it (after a few listens) that puts them thankfully on another level to stuff like night terror, brain drill and such. The stuff they're doing is not always what would come to mind to do when you hold an instrument in your hands and are dicking around until you have a song. It's a good thing that they write music on paper (or on a sequencer, whatever) first because in such fret-run-heavy music I find one's hands tend to dictate too much of their scope if they write on the instrument.
ReplyDeleteBehold have a few different modes they go through on songs too, from the all-out stuff like on the video to more dream-like ambient and various points in between, which appeals to me. I guess the reason I don't count them as an all-time favourite is that, unlike influences like Voivod or Thought Industry or whatever else they listen to, their music is not strictly narrative, there's no lyrics or too much suggestive imagery (a skull on a grid doesn't do much for me) and the whimsical song titles don't help. I tend to like my HM with a story I guess.
Bela Bartok is the shit. Ill get him up here one of these days. Concerto for Orchestra FTW.
ReplyDeleteWord Helm. Since there's an absence of lyrics coupled with really intense song writing in all modes, really; I consider them more classical than HM-just applying a heavier sound to their obvs classical songs. I like the whimsical song titles though. That's just me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and have no problems putting Behold the Arctopus in some sort of modern composition category. I wonder if (and how) the band feels (about) what they're doing as some sort of metal, though.
ReplyDeleteThere's a video of them covering Coroner over on YouTube. That's pretty dang metal in my book.
ReplyDeleteTheir drummer is in Blotted Science with Alex Fucking Webster and Ron Fucking Jarzombek. Dude on the Warre guitar (his name escapes me at present) is in Krallice and recently joined Fucking Gorguts. Metal cred up the fucking hoo-ha, hands down.
ReplyDeleteWTF Mel you walked out of their show at Thee Parkside when we went you poseur.
ReplyDeleteWeasel Walter is drumming for them now. I'm looking forward to their new material.
ReplyDeleteI'm aware of that the band loves HM, if memory serves the way Marston and Lerner got together included a conversation like "you like metal? I live for metal!". I'm just interested in how they see Behold the Arctopus given that there is little to no narration to it. Do they think metal doesn't necessarily need narration or do they not care if the lack of makes Behold the Arctopus 'less metal'? I guess I'll ask them some time.
ReplyDeleteNot denying their metal cred. Not denying I'm a complete poseur either. That's all. Thanks.
ReplyDelete