Album: Cypher
Year: 2013
Genre: Black Metal
Black metal musicians continue to astound me with immense creativity and a fearless, innovative nature as they continually expand their musical boundaries beyond the standard blast beats, screeching vocals, dissonant chords and stereotypical production values. Whatever the reason, black metal embraces the infusion of various styles and moods. In stark contrast to other forms of metal, the fan base is often very accepting of these broadened and progressive efforts. With their third full-length, Cypher, French duo Spektr advance the genre even further into the experimental frontier and have come up with what I believe is (so far) the best example of the seemingly limitless ingenuity in black metal.
Spektr are often tagged as an “industrial” black metal band. While that classification is appropriate, as
it appears they are equally influenced by Skinny Puppy as much as they are
Emperor, it is just too elementary of a description. This band shatters commonplace
characterizations as their love for malevolent guitars and drums matches their
love for eerie, eccentric electronics. The
guitar sound is enveloped in effects pedals, and soars over the thick, and
surprisingly clean, (and possibly fretless) bass. Their rhythms are of particular interest. At various times, one may notice smatterings
of industrial pulsations and drum ‘n bass interludes. You can even find a DC-style
“go-go” beat among traditional black metal drums. It’s pretty fascinating to hear. Spektr do not use vocals, yet, they display
such masterful skill with effects, noises and samples that the lack of a voice
is not a concern. Usually, descriptions
such as experimental and progressive equate to a more subdued musical
approach. Make no mistake, this album
has the beastly heart of a true and ferocious black metal band, but the twists
and turns the band incorporate pull the listener into unconventional world of
harsh sounds and atypical structures. Once
you’ve finished the record, you get a sense of having been trapped in a sinister
and macabre music box with no chance of escape.
I have listened to this record over and over again, and each time I am
impressed by the intense labor it must have taken these guys to create such
diverse and imaginative music.
This 2013 release was my first exposure to Spektr, so I
naturally delved back into their short catalog after hearing this record. Although I don’t
find their earlier works as captivating as Cypher, you can definitely
see the progression of their work which led up to this stellar album. I cannot wait to see what they do next.
Listen to "The Singularity" here.
Listen to "The Singularity" here.
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