Noneuclid
The Crawling Chaos
10
German headbanger, turned award-winning, internationally recognized classical composer, turned metalhead again, starts applying prodigal composing skills to prog-tech-death-thrash compositions. Shortly thereafter assembles a crew that utilizes co-workers from Dark Fortress (of which said thrasher is also a member), and one of those employed just happens to also be the add-on live guitarist for Celtic Frost. Intrigued? You fucking should be.
Bleak. Scientific. Fictional. Black science fiction. The Crawling Chaos is a concept album about "the violent and inevitable death of the entire universe, personified by god-like entities from beyond the cosmos" (their own words, of which there is an abundance at their site, a novel's worth). Normally I would flip this off as an excuse to showcase make-up and frowns, but there is something else happening here and it's better than alot of things I've heard, ever. Noneuclid is shaping up to become my dream Decepticon: an avant-garde heart with extremities made from the spheres of Pestilence, the unquestionable presence of Atheist, the sham mirrors of Arcturus, the fire and demise of Emperor, the killing technology of Voivod, and the universe according to Dead Brain Cells. Having taken the thrash, the death, and the spook out of all of these leaders without blatantly ripping them off, they've gone and created a dark cosmic cabaret with more mystique intact than you'd expect from an entity that wears its heart on its sleeve. I assure you, you'll meet my tangent with clarity (guaranteed or no money back) as you get wrapped up in their prog-black/death web spun with Ihsahn-like fretboard precision (the incessant noodling of "The Digital Diaspora"; varying vocal styles bring him to mind as well), set to a down-tuned bludgeoning distort reminiscent of Nile-ish guitar tones ("Worm"), then winding down into a crawl ("Murder Of Worlds"). Blast-beats occasionally sail underneath meticulously played, frantic flamenco acoustic passages (again, "The Digital Diaspora"), but eventually collide with the full-throttle and straight-angles of their speed metal homage to the cosmos (the outstanding "Time Reaper"). And then there's always the weirdness platform of "Void Bitch", utilizing whatever notes possible to summon a calculated uneasiness at a polka's pace, with partner in nausea being the ambient evil sound collection that is "Xenoglossy". As you can see, it's all over the place, but still in one place, all at the same time.
An unsettling amount of varying metal influences. Nothing a little alchemic skill can't solve, obviously, as this hierarchy has drawn out the blackprint for a major erasure of constellations. Sixes on high.
