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VOID PARADIGM "Tout Ira Mieux Sans Nous"
VOID PARADIGM "Tout Ira Mieux Sans Nous"
By Dr. Abner Mality
If it's on I, Voidhanger, it's a given that it's gonna be weird. The question is...is it the kind of weird that challenges and engages the brain or is it just a mess that's weird for weird's sake? The label has its fair share of both and I'm afraid this French outfit is going to fit in the latter category.
It's already got an uphill climb because it's one huge track going for more than 38 minutes. Not many bands can sustain interest for such a length and VOID PARADIGM doesn't. Now it is not totally a wash as there are some pretty intense moments here, but the whole thing becomes wearying and there are sizable "dead zones" within the colossal title track, which by the way,means "Things are better without us", a sentiment I can't argue too strongly with.
When the band cites influences that include VED BUENS ENDE, DODECAHEDRON, ARNOLD SCHONBERG, DEATHSPELL OMEGA and ALK TODOLO, it's inevitable the music will be as scattershot as hell.It starts with a blast of pure black metal fury, switches to an avalanche of glitchy polyrhythms like MESHUGGAH on crack, gets quite boring before switching to doom, something like a mashup of djent and thrash, a couple of extremely dull minor key sections and finally winding up with the expected big noisy climax. Also, vocalist Jonathan Thery (ATARAXIE) is constantly yelling and muttering in French while an Edith Piaf type female singer occasionally appears.
Some of the avant-garde riffing here is as cool as hell and the drum/bass interplay is a marvel, but come on, this is disjointed and extremely difficult listening. Maybe that's the point, but you can count me...and probably a lot of you...out.
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