Overmars' Born Again

Born Again is the 2007 follow up release to 2005's Affliction, Endocrine…Vertigo, and very different in structure. It's one massive track at 39:26 in length.

Envision a girl - the same one personified in Affliction, Endocrine…Vertigo who easily could have met her maker in the depths below. Only envision she didn't meet her maker and she's returned for another bout of possibly life-terminating exaltations. She's seeking adrenaline to prevent depression; balancing apprehension with ecstasy. This time she's free climbing a mountain - a cliff - and coming to a point where she can climb no further (what a mountain climber would refer to as a "crux"). It's a difficult place in the climb, where the climber, typically solo, must perform a set of moves in dynamic motion to move forward or grab a hold of what would otherwise be out of reach. The lyrics in the song are the thoughts running through the climber's head as she comes to terms with her situation and the possible fate that awaits her. I’m close to dying a thousand times, but this time I allowed myself to cry…. If she stays where she is her only possible fate is death. Or, she could confront her fears and continue to climb, and possibly save herself.

Arms in a cross, ready to absorb the shock.
I just know I can’t go lower.
There is no under.
Just me, myself and I.
And the will to stay or to climb.

Or… the lyrics could be symbolizing an unborn child's attempt to escape from the womb. Playing disturbing footage of stillbirths, among other things, on makeshift projection screens made of bed sheets at their live shows, Overmars has a strange fascination with parturition. In addition to an exhilarating stint of free climbing, the lyrics also describe metaphoric birth, which makes the footage relevant.

Seeing the plague’s face taking shape doesn’t scare me anymore.
Seeing the plague coming out of my wounds liberates me. Listen to the screams coming out of my wounds, free from the plague.
Listen to the screams coming out of the hole, holding the sound of joy and pleasure.
Listen to my screams announcing the birth of a new man.

The light is brighter from the dark. The latter is likely the band's intended meaning, but that's the beautiful thing about lyrics. You can interpret them as you wish. Avoiding sudden antenatal death syndrome, is a child born? Or has a mountain climber tamed her trepidations and transcended to start life anew in what could be interpreted as essentially a bizarre allegory?

The profuseness of exuberant emotion flowing from the vocal performance of Mrs. Marion Leclercq is perhaps, for its brief seven minute duration, unparalleled by any other female vocalist in all of metal. What she accomplishes here is nothing short of brilliant.  It might not even be correct to call it "singing," but it's sure passionate. The hate, the anger, the agitation, emanates from her and spews forth as if she's actually a subject in whatever situation she is portraying. Her screams are downright scary, and her cleans echo and reverberate as though she's crying out from the loneliest chambers of Hell, forced to face her fears and hoping someone will hear.  And we do!  We hear her loud and clear.  Here she is in Austria on Overmars' European tour in April of '06:

This isn't music you want to play in a car on a date (I know from experience). The first time listener's reaction to sitting though the opening ten minutes of this track is typically one of pure horror. Oddly, the climax comes near the beginning of the song instead of the end. 
 
The first fifteen minutes are the best of the track. Eerie electronic noises, growled and soaring vocals, and thick pounding riffs form a sound that's distinct and easily recognizable as Overmars'. As the track progresses it drones, and the despair becomes almost overwhelming. Of all the songs in this band's brief discography, this one is the heaviest. It's unabridged doom. It's one of the heaviest albums ever recorded, competing with the likes of Electric Wizard's Dopethrone, SunO)))'s ØØ Void, Godflesh's Streetcleaner, and EyeHateGod's Dopestick. Born Again is a giant monolith of crushing doom and relentless noise.  Walls of sound flatten listeners, who might be begging for death before the end. Or hemorrhaging one.


Originally written as a review for Sputnik Music:
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/52223/Overmars-Born-Again/

Overmars' Affliction, Endocrine... Vertigo

There are certain phases, stages, and events in a metal listener's journey that will manage to forever fixate themselves deep in his mind... that he will remember for the rest of his life. The first time he was introduced to metal. The first time he heard his favorite band. The first time he heard his favorite album. Certain songs. Times he heard certain songs with certain people and shared a special moment with them. Certain songs or albums or bands he looked to for guidance, inspiration, or motivation during times when he had nowhere else to look. Times he was introduced to a new genre that hadn't before manifested itself in his mind, because he was completely unaware it even existed.

For me, this is the album that altered the standards by which I evaluate metal. It's the metal album that makes all the others slightly worse.

Why is that? To be honest, it's hard to put into words. This album doesn't scream musicianship. There are no really impressive solos on it. The drumming isn't overly impressive (but it is experimental). It's not technical. At first listen, in fact, thoughts are more along the lines of "what the hell am I listening to?," "this sounds like garbage," and "why would I listen to the rest of this album?" At least that's what I thought when I first listened to Obsolete. Granted, that was a few years ago, before I became really familiar with doom and sludge. But I still feel that to some extent. Every time I start the album a part of me wonders what it is about it that makes me want to continue listening to it. I also know that since I realized what a truly special record this is, I've held all other records in comparison to it. Hoping they'll be as unique, as diverse, as avant garde as this one. A few years later I've been tearing through metal albums left and right, and I haven't found one half as any of those things as this one.

Maybe it's the unorthodoxy. The non conventional - utterly non conventional - free approach Overmars takes towards crafting its songs. Maybe it's the fact that when "This is Rape" starts I swear I hear a doom breakdown (is that even possible?). Maybe it's the combination of influences and the diversity of soundscapes. Down-tuned sludge mixed with hardcore, post-metal, and industrial. But the real reason is, simply, this album is the most creepy, disturbing, impenetrable, oppressive work of art I've ever heard. The only other album that rivals it in that regard is Dragged Into Sunlight's Hatred For Mankind. It evokes feelings in me I can't even describe. "Obsolete" and "This is Rape" are barrages of oppressive musical assault that stomp your ****ing face in with a size 12 steel-toed boot. They're not without their twinges of down time, though. Such as the 4:50 mark in "This is Rape." The oppression momentarily subsides but something even more unsettling takes its place. A simple guitar melody, mid-tempo drumming and some electronic/industrial effects. It's not even depressing, it's just… strange, unsettling, something Trent Reznor would come up with. And that continues on until around 7:17, when a dirty distorted bass comes back in, balls-to-the-wall sludge resumes, and a sound sample becomes audible in the background which is impossible to really make out. And then, just when you're starting to feel that this terrible record is going to be nothing but pure ugliness and filth...

Destroy all dreamers who dream of the same thing more than once...

A most unexpected twist and alteration in sound. Suddenly all heaviness vanishes and what becomes audible is a gorgeous soft interlude with clean vocals that puts your mind at rest after the trauma of the first two tracks. "Destroy All Dreamers pt. I" leads perfectly into "Deux Measures de Solitude," which starts off softly with a catchy guitar hook and slowly, over the course of four or so minutes, builds through repetition and subtle additions into another heavy crushing assault. And voilá!, we're back to where "This is Rape" left off.

But the next track is truly one of the shining moments on this record. "Büccolision / (bis) The Mistaken One pt. II (Geography is Just a Symptom)" is one of the most scary, horrific, distressing songs ever. It's not sludge. It's not hardcore. It's not anything. It starts out with a slow piano passage, then we hear some slow sporadic guitar strumming, then a heavy distorted bass chord. The foundation for the entire song is piano. Overmars' contrasting of the beautiful with the dark is an exercise of expertise… they take what's traditionally considered a beautiful instrument and play it under a horrific display of chanting and screaming. A long ritualistic-like chant is spoken in French while - what sounds like - a helpless victim being the unfortunate subject in some horrific experiment or ritual is tortured and screams pleading cries of agony. The chanting and the screaming are just dubbed over each other. The chant is actually in French.

Standing in the shadow of this obtuse-angled mirror's reflection
Harvesting the seeds of our prettiest hangman, young girls in the prime of life galore
In our dreams of languor and love, on our lips, softly without the torturous sensation of filthiness
Optic through the hole where the iris huddles
Stares at its victim with heartbroken eyes, drunk with the stale smell of an undesirable strangeness
Of exocrine glands and unhealthy exudations
Which cherishes it aloud and carries it in its womb

The "vocalist," playing the part of the poor girl, who could easily be pictured as a victim tied to a stake in some sort of hellish ritual, is utterly convincing. Perhaps inspired by thoughts of being cut, stabbed and raped (or worse), the atmosphere her performance gives this song is unmatched on this album. This track personifies utter desperation, hopelessness, and depravity. The piano continues throughout, there are occasional distorted guitar chords, a rare strum of a distorted bass, and whatever else that isn't easily recognizable. It reaches a heart-pounding climax and it's assumed she's finally been finished off by her tormentor, bringing an end to her suffering. And then, it all fades out, and into...

Destroy all dreamers who don’t fondly kiss his lips and don’t embrace him...

"A Spermwhale's Quest" features Marion, the lead female vocalist, in what seems to be a song about drowning. Be what the writers intended as it may, imagery consists of a girl who has immersed herself underwater, and in doing so has found herself a little too deep, and possibly "gazing into the eyes of the reaper." Pressure is the only thing down here, reminding me how my strength is relative. There is no sound down here except for my heartbeat, pounding in my head. Static noise is used in this track throughout. The lyrics on this album are all around fantastic. As are all three vocalists. The vocals have incredible range - the prolonged death growls, the clean mid-ranged, the soft murmurs, and those that can't be described (like on "Destroy All Dreamers pt. II" and "From Love to Exhausting - the Story of This Intangible Thing Between Us"). There are recordings/sound samples thrown in randomly further back in the mix. You might find yourself realizing there's a woman screaming after she's already been at it twenty seconds. There's so much to listen for and concentrate on... it's that kind of record.

Destroy all dreamers who forget he holds us in his arms every morning...

The "Destroy All Dreamers" tracks (there are five of them throughout) are the most well executed interludes I've heard on any album that features interludes and makes them prominent. They don't detract from the album. They don't cost it momentum. They give some air to what could have been a very suffocating and linear record. Reminiscent of a handful of post-rock bands, albeit darker, they're the beauty in Overmars' continuous effort to balance the beauty and the ugliness. They also provide a running theme - something to come back to. Something for the listener to fasten onto and gain familiarity with. They are all simple, repetitive guitar melodies with soft soothing vocals - sometimes dual vocals. According to the band, the lyrics in these five tracks are a call against apathy. To dream is beautiful, but to live our dreams is much more beautiful. Stop dreaming, start acting, and let's re-appropriate our lives. And they use a metaphor to illustrate this with baby birds. Daily blood tastes so sweet in our awaken mouths. Even though technically birds don't have lips or arms, and both parent birds raise their young, the idea is that a father bird takes care of his offspring, and they should be thankful for that, because they wouldn't survive without him. He makes them strong and prepares them for the harsh world they'll eventually be cast into. It's a message not to be apathetic. Show gratitude and thankfulness to the people who take care of you. Don't take it for granted. These five songs are a gorgeous conveyance of that. And they're just as critical a component to this record as the long, violent, inundating onslaughts of doom.

"En Memoire des Faibles qui Ont Survecu a Darwin" and "From Love to Exhausting - The Story of This Intangible Thing Between Us" are respectively 13:01 and 9:24 in length, and monoliths of post-metal sludgy doomy goodness. As mentioned, there's nothing technical and nothing groundbreaking about these sludgefests. But they are Overmars' own. They are dense and difficult to digest, especially the former. "En Memoire des Faibles qui Ont Survecu a Darwin" is a heavy, chugging, crushing, overwhelming composition of magnificent artistic doom. At almost no point though is the chugging without some sense of melody. There are some very tasty riffs, and memorable bass lines here, and never underestimate Overmars' ability to spin things around and alter dynamics in a split second.

This album is dynamic not only in sound but in structure. It's diverse, and it's likely a lot of parts were improvisations. Overmars is experimental in nature. Attention is solicited until the end; you never know what you're going to be listening to next. Ideas are in abundance. This album shouldn't be recommend to those lacking familiarity with extreme metal, and specifically, sludge and doom. It's an exhausting experience, and immediately nearly indigestible. But with time, patience - a lot of patience - and willingness to let it grow on you, this can become one of the finest albums you've ever heard.

HIGHLIGHTS: "This is Rape," "Buccolision / (bis) The Mistaken One pt. II (Geography is Just a Symptom)," "A Spermwhale's Quest," "En Memoire des Faibles qui Ont Survecu a Darwin"



Originally written as a review for Sputnik Music:
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/52200/Overmars-Affliction%2C-Endocrine...Vertigo/

Starkweather/Overmars (Split LP)

Firstly, this brief review is solely catered to Overmars' portion of the split. I'm mostly unfamiliar with Starkweather, but from what I've heard I'm not a fan, so I feel it most fair to write about the band here that I've grown to know and love - Overmars.

I was gleeful when I finally learned last year that Overmars was set to release new material. It had been four years since Born Again was released, and no real news in-between then and 2011 surfaced regarding plans about the band's future, new material, etc… their status was unknown and I assumed indefinite hiatus.

Then news of this split surfaced, which would entail 15-16 minutes of new Overmars material…

Overmars has written some of the neatest stuff in the doom metal department I've ever heard. Affliction, Endocrine…Vertigo in 2005 and Born Again in 2007, the latter being their last release save a for-the-most-part inconsequential split with Icos and a ten-minute EP they put out in 2008 on a 7" offering a different recording of "Büccolision" and a follow-up track.

The two tracks here by Overmars include "Solitary/Following the Sperm Whale (Once Again)" and "Last Sail Sinking," both of which, to my great delight, pick up right where Affliction left off. It's typical weird, experimental, avant-garde, doom/sludge Overmars. "Last Sail Sinking" features vocals from the brilliant female vocalist we heard in Born Again (Marion, also of Abronzious). I read prior to this release that she was no longer with the band but she's sure enough featured in this split. "Solitary/Following the Sperm Whale (Once Again)" begins with a somewhat unsettling sound sample. We hear a gentlemen uttering something undecipherable and some other noises and whistling along with it, along with a gentle guitar melody, then we hear a poor girl let out a shrill scream before everything goes quiet. Then the doom begins. It's quite crushing, and unmistakably Overmars'. The vocals are deep, harsh screams and growls. If there was such a thing as "doomcore," Overmars would have to be at the genre's forefront. The hardcore and post-metal influences are all in this, and it really brings out what sludge can be like with outside influences.

Dynamics are a critical element of Overmars' sound. Hard to soft, soft to hard. Soft melodic guitar tunes followed by heavy oppressive rifts. The only recognizable lyrics: "Sail and sink, on the altar of conviction, sail and sink, embracing an illusion, sail and sink, for the sake of salvation, waiting for death, something's running inside your veins," all sung by Marion, who has one of the most captivating voices and unique style of singing of any female vocalist I've heard in metal.

A full-length of this caliber material would be a 5-star record.

Starkweather/Overmars (Split LP) spinning 

HIGHLIGHTS: "Solitary - Following The Sperm Whale (Once Again)," "Last Sail Sinking"

*UPDATE: I just learned Overmars' two tracks were actually recorded years ago, probably between 2005 and 2007.  And it looks as though the band has either broken up, or stopped playing, indefinitely.  According to The Record Connection. 



Originally written as a review for Sputnik Music: 

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/52181/Starkweather-and-Overmars-Starkweather-Overmars/ 

Enslaved and Alcest Concert Review

Enslaved and Alcest concert on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at Outland Live in Columbus, OH


If someone had told me at the start of the year that both Agalloch and Alcest would tour the United States in 2011, and that I'd miss both of them, I would've been in disbelief.  Right now, I'm in disbelief.
 
I missed Alcest Saturday night because I arrived at the venue too late.  I drove six and a half hours to find out, when I walked up to the girl taking tickets at the door, Alcest had just completed their set and left the stage.  I felt absolutely sick.

On top of that, I'd either purchased the wrong ticket, or Ticketmaster sent me the wrong ticket, because when I handed my ticket to the girl at the door she showed me the ticket was for the Enslaved and Alcest show in Springfield, VA.  So I had to cough up $17 to see Enslaved.

Enslaved was great, of course.  I expected nothing less.  Although I'm not gonna lie and pretend I enjoyed the show and had the time of my life.  In all honesty, it was impossible for me to really absorb it and get into it.  I was exhausted, physically and mentally, and for a large part of the set I sat on a couch in the back of the room and just listened.  I wish they'd played more off Vertebrae, which is Enslaved's best album and one of the best black metal albums ever released. They did cover "Immigrant Song" by Zeppelin as an encore, which was awesome.  The set was as follows, from what I can remember... I might've missed one or two in the middle of the set.


Setlist:

1. Axioma (intro)
2. Ethica Odini
3. Raidho
4. Fusion of Sense and Earth
5. Heimvegen
6. Ruun
7. Ground
8. Giants
9. As Fire Swept Clean the Earth
10. Allfaor Ooinn

Encore:

11. Drum Solo
12. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
13. Isa

An Introspective Sound: Alcest

Ecailles de Lune (Part I)

We have our classic black metal bands.  These are the Celtic Frost's and Hellhammer's and Bathory's of the world.  Then we have our next wave of black metal, which has a slightly wider variance in sound.  These would be our Immortal's and Satyricon's and Emperor's (and the newest, Triptykon, which was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2010), so on and so on.  

Then there's… Alcest.  

Let me start by saying the production value is ace.  And this is what we would expect from Markus Stock (the brain behind Empyrium, The Vision Bleak, and Autumnblaze).  

With Écailles de Lune, this band has taken black metal in its own direction, and the results have been nothing short of fantastic.  It would probably be unfair to call them a black metal band, just because black metal is only one of many incorporations they throw into their sound.  It's extremely shoegazish.  You'll find few blastbeats, and absolutely no pounding "D" chords played over and over (retreat!, Whitechapel fans, retreat!).  Rather, most of the album is gentle and mellow, and creates an ethereal sense of beauty in an extremely emotional way.  This is where the post-rock influence finds its way in.  Black metal is a genre that, to a large extent, seems to quickly be becoming stale… still producing great music, just not much in the way of innovation.  Clean vocals of this sort are uncharted grounds for this genre. The vocals on the opening track engulf the song with a wave of sentimentality and serenity.  And they compliment the guitars beautifully, creating truly stirring music with a painstakingly transparent emotional core.   

There are few metal records that evoke so much emotion in the listener (or at least that's the case with me), hence why I usually turn to post-rock for feeling, whether it be depression, inspiration, tranquility, or whatever else.  But this record absolutely does.  This music brings me to a state of introversion.  I've never heard music so beautiful and dreamlike, yet so longing with lingering undertones of lonesomeness and pain.  The lingering follows the album throughout, appearing and reappearing, right to the very end with Sur L'Ocean Couleur de Fer, which is one of the most dreamlike songs I've ever heard.  This is the song I would expect to hear when voyaging to a different realm.  I can almost see the valor behind the clouds…

The slow gentle echoing guitars and the harmonious vocal pattern draw a beautiful romantic ambiance; it's the perfect album closer.  But it still has that strange sense of depression and anguish, like it's trying to seek out the beauty, but just can't get past the heartache… a theme I thought lasted throughout. 

The blackest part of the album was Écailles de Lune (Part II) and Percées de Lumiére, where we heard a lot of that 90's shoegaze meet Agalloch-type intensity and black metal vocals. Percées de Lumiére, especially, ads a lot of diversity to this record.  Neige displays his fantastic shrill screams, which are extremely impressive because I've never actually been convinced he's a black metal vocalist, so I'm not quite sure how he pulls it off.  The drums aren't too technical, but they're interesting, and they mesh well with the bass. There are some great uptempo rifts.  This song invoked a nice feeling of nostalgia, in a way that's not quite so "down" in mood, but still incredibly heartfelt.  

Abysses is definitely the weakest track on the record, but it serves as a nice interlude between the first three tracks and Solar Song and Sur L'Ocean de Fer.  

Sur L'Ocean Couleur de Fer

There have been a lot of comparisons made between Alcest and Agalloch, maybe because they're both on Profound Lore, or maybe because most see them as similar artists, but whatever the reason(s), these are two of the greatest current artists producing music.  Écailles de Lune got #2 on my top albums of 2010 list behind Agalloch's.  Both are blackened post-metal.  Both can be folksy.  Alcest delves more into the shoegaze area than Agalloch.  Agalloch delves more into doom.  But they are similar, and I think comparing them is justifiable.  While I feel Agalloch creates better song structure, greater depth, and slightly more instrumental efficiency, Alcest creates in an area where Agalloch lacks (slightly): atmosphere and emotion.  I definitely get emotional responses from Agalloch's music, but not quite in the sense, or to the extent, I do from Alcest's.  And I think that rolls back around to atmospherics.

Écailles de Lune: 9.4/10 

A special thanks to the Metal Archives and the Mayhem Boards.