Brain Tentacles — Brain Tentacles
Instrumental outfit ZU is the closest comparison, a band who also thought to augment metal's usual timbres with a raspy, growling saxophone, thickening the texture with unison accents and leads which make this music a great deal more melodic than the majority of doom metal. Unlike ZU, Brain Tentacles aren't fully instrumental, but the vocals appear only briefly every few minutes or so, and aren't mixed too loudly. The music is certainly instrumentally focused.
Most of the 11 songs are around 2-4 minutes. These shorter songs, while fun, don't have much progression from beginning to end, as the band tends to groove on a pair of alternating riffs for the duration. The riffs aren't weak, but don't seem as technical, distinctive or clever as the bands that evidently inspired them.
The lone epic length piece, "Cosmic Warriors Girth Curse", is a journey, in the same sense as with psychedelic jam bands, swelling and releasing in gradual arcs of momentum. The band tends to alternate between groovy breakdowns from the drumset / bass guitar, and sinuous unison sections where the saxophone is added. The opening of the song, which features the saxophone sounding out into a gulf of silence, stopping, and beginning again, is effective.
The aggressive pick bassist wouldn't be out of place in any post punk band, and he ends up being the most obviously noticeable member, as there is no higher register guitarist. The clanking percussive thud of his rapidly paced, busy riffs fill the space whenever the saxophone drops away, communicating a sense of frenzied urgency and ferocious passion.
The band's bio claims they incorporate 'noise', but this is not strictly true. The guitar tones found in most metal are distorted by default, and the saxophone sound here is similarly distorted, likely run through an amp as well. However, this is the extent of the 'noise' found on this album. A few times, the bass is heavily processed with pedals, with thick tremolo and wah, but even then retains a mostly melodic character. The band's sound is heavy, but typically not outright abrasive.
The tone of the album changes a bit with "Gassed" and "The Spoiler", tracks 5 and 6, adopting a furiously intense punk/thrash approach, dripping with irreverent anger. These tracks have more overt vocals than the rest. The particularly Melvins-esque "Gassed" is filled with raucous, mischievious howls and screams sure to get a laugh from most listeners, while "The Spoiler" borders on power violence and grindcore, with utterly unhinged shrill and punctuated screams, venomously spit. This style feels natural for the band.
The album is filled with tight musicianship and rhythmic power, but doesn't have much candid emotion or sentimentality, with the lone exception of "Fata Morgana", towards the end of the album. In this track, the bass is heavily chorused and melodic, and the overall effect is not unlike a Metallica ballad. The riff strongly recalls "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)". The vocals are rather similar to Godsmack. I admire the attempt, but it's a cheesy track.
The band, it seems, has largely yet to explore their most aggressive tendencies, and also their capacity for atmospheric, lengthy pieces. Most of the album occupies a middle ground between the two, in which a groove is certainly established, but not as much a distinctive attitude or feeling. This album is enjoyable, but several of the short, riff-oriented pieces feel interchangeable, and like something more memorable could've been included. Though none of the tracks are really 'bad', the band didn't create much of an album flow, with moments of furious energy interspersed at random amongst more abstract and cerebral fare. The vitriolic blast of "The Spoiler", and the 9 minute trip of "Cosmic Warriors Girth Curse" are the standouts, in my mind. I would certainly like to see this band live, but can't see myself listening to this album heavily. Their musicianship and energy are on point, but they could write some more imaginative music.