Disemballerina : " Poison Gown"

A project that has gathered buzz in the metal community, despite not being metal.This string trio which focuses on a cello, harp and acoustic guitar is dark. I would not say they are heavy and if you are a regular reader hear then you know that some of the music we love to cover most is music that is heavy , but not metal. The opener "Impaled Matador" has an almost neo-folk feel to it. The melodies the strings make are romantic and lush, but by the time you get to "La Folls" it is beginning to just sound like chamber music. The cello does begin to play intervals that would not sound out of place on a metal album if chugged out by electric guitar. But if you are at ll fluent in classical music and maybe the are trying to appeal to an audience who is not, then there is nothing really new here. "That is the Head of One Who Toyed With My Honor" comes in using similar phrasing that has the aggressive current of metal eluded to in the cello's choice of notes. This ebbs into ambiance that is far more user friendly than say Phillip Glass. The cello goes for more of a chug in the final minutes of the song.


"Phantom Limb" starts off with some hesitant ambiance. They try to slide into the more syncopated notes with a little more intensity that is not there. This is good back ground music, but there is plenty of classical music that is both darker and heavier. Maybe Arvo Part should start writing his name in black metal font. One of the more interesting compositions is " Year of the Horse". It has a wider dynamic range than most of the other songs on this album. It is not heavy , but preformed with a lot of feeling. I do not hear any of the doom elements the band tags themselves with on their Bandcamp page. The first really metallic thing that occurs is in the final seconds of " Phantom limb" when they attack their instruments with a gallop for a brief second.

"Styx' must be in reference to the band from the 70s and not the river in Hell, because it is very tender and ballad like. There is a very minimalist feel to the first half of the song. The string are being very handled like pieces of fragile glass. It begins to slowly darken and at best might be though of as heading in a post- rock direction. Things slowly get a little more ominous in the final few minutes and are attacked with more tension. So kids remember that any tone or instrument if played the right way can invoke heavy, but to be metal well that requires distortion to give the metallic sound. I really want to like what they are doing here because I do like the idea in theory. I'll give this one a 7 as it sounds good and there are interesting choices being made but is far less original than you might be led to believe.