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TARDIGRADE INFERNO “Hush”
TARDIGRADE INFERNO “Hush”
By Iron Sheik
I would venture to say that TARDIGRADE INFERNO has a lot of promise, and they are on their way with their weirdness called “Hush”. TARDIGRADE INFERNO is quite an interesting outfit, and I know how it is to discover a new band with a different take on heavy metal or rock music in general because it has happened a couple of times over the years. There was the B-52s, TKK, JANE’S ADDICTION, MOTHER LOVE BONE, MARILYN MANSON, BAUHAUS, and NINA HAGEN just to name a few. Then there was the spaghetti western stylings of DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA. More recently there has been POSTMODERN JUKEBOX and BROKEN PEACH. Some of it is not metal, but has taken inspiration from it. Each has offered a different take on heavy music.
Enter the band TARDIGRADE INFERNO and their self described dark "cabaret-metal" with a stomp-y polka-adjacent circus-tent nightmare Beetlejuice inflected circus aesthetic theatrical metal from Saint Petersburg, Russia with their new album “Hush”. What a mouthful that was describing their style of music! As I read those different descriptions while listening to “Hush” they have become my go-to's as I was coming up empty handed with the exception of it being a circus themed theatrical monster. I was so close but yet so far away with that, and I blame it on the urge to read all I can.
TARDIGRADE INFERNO’'s theatrics of the dark cabaret, and inducers of the “Hush” madness are Darya Rorria on vocals - an unbelievable powerhouse of a vocalist. Then there is Alexander Pavlovich on guitar - a tightly melodic yet heavy riffer. Introducing the mysterious Maxim Belekhov as the intellectual mastermind - and I assume he plays bass and the synthesizer, and finally, sticks up, Andrew Drew on drums - the perpetrator of some great bottom end along with the Intellectual Mastermind's bass. “Hush” is album number three, and as a quartet they make one hell of a big sound. Time to let them in for an aural rollercoaster ride, so…”Hush”.
First up is the circus welcoming “The Final Show”, an over the top piece which is used to introduce us to the insanity ahead replete with a death metal tinged growl at the outro. Up next is “Hide'n'Seek” with Darya 's vocal acrobatics rising and falling with the music with a touch of a little girl voice.” Deadly Fairytales” is next. A catchy xylophone piece repeats throughout. “All In Your Head” opens with a welcome to the big top run. It is a catchy song yet the chorus is a bit repetitive. “Dead Fish Smile” plays along like a normal power ballad. Is there such a thing as normal that applies to these guys? Nah, yet it is normal.
“Subatomic Heist” is a cinematic sounding song that becomes heavy. I feel like I am at the movies with some intense scene playing out on the big screen. Up next is “I.C.D.” which sounds like the intense action is still playing out. Dancing into your world. “Goor” plays next. What the word means I am not sure. It could be the American comedy writer, the town in Germany, or the village in Russia. Maybe there is something more sinister altogether!? With a touch of industrial tropes the title song “Hush” starts. There is an air of The Outer Limits throughout this song. “Hypograph” is an instru-mental intro to the end of the show. “I Am Eternal” begs for help. Oh pretty please. Will you help me? Death whether by suicide or by disease is where the show ends. This song is my favorite track off the album.
Ears ringing, a pleasurable feeling that only the cabaret nightmare circus “Hush” by TARDIGRADE INFERNO could leave. A pastiche of music and of doom and of gloom are also left. I read over and over that “Hush” is an album full of vignette styled songs, and it fits now that I have listened to the album repeatedly. Before leaving I must say that Avant-garde is a much better and shorter descriptor for this band than the mouthful I put forth at the outset here. Forty-five minutes in the dark cabaret that is known as Tardigrade Inferno has left me wanting more, so I will listen again and revel in their nightmare under the circus tent. Come along and take a detour through the world of the intellectual mastermind's creation, the dark cabaret-metal of “Hush”.
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