Ever tasted a sound wave?
So, looks like in this time of pandemics, everyone gets so easily offended and become quite irrationally sensible. Especially those who like to think au contraire about themselves. Everyone is psychically assaulted by thoughts and fears. And, while there’s a global pandemic locking down the planet, I took the opportunity and decided to approach this intricate album because, when I look at the big picture here, this release comes to my mind.
It’s funny how time works. There was a time when I didn’t like Igorrr. I thought it was an amalgam of noises made especially to look unconventional. This was repeated back in 2017 when I first saw them live at a festival. Now I think that this album offers us the possibility to overcome the limitations and prejudices related to the framing in a musical style. Sometimes it is best not to crawl down the rabbit hole of understanding “why”. Some things just are and Igorrr is one of those somethings.
Igorrr is a full-time project of the french musician Gautier Serre, that combines a variety of disparate genres, including black metal, baroque music, breakcore, and trip-hop, into a singular sound. Together with the vocalists Laurent Lunoir, Laure Le Prunenec and drummer Sylvain Bouvie, Gautier Serre creatively transpose his synesthesia into soundwaves. He stated about his music: “I wanted to have something for myself where I would be the only person to make that kind of decision. I was looking for a specific style of music, but I could not find what I wanted because it did not exist. ” In this case, the art statement is that something is very weird and not likely to be accepted per se.
Minor keys are not present and the overall feeling is optimistic, with an operatic and dramatic voice hovering above the music, this album was not quite my comfort zone maybe that’s why I choose to review it.
The soundtrack to the end of the world for some, experimental masterpiece for others, “Spirituality and Distortion” offers a bit of everything this is maybe the reason for this album is so consistent.
The first song that opened my eyes was “Parpaing”, the collaboration with “the final boss of death metal: George Fisher” (for neophytes, he is also known as Corpsegrinder, the voice of Cannibal Corpse). Synthesised beats feel like a natural extension of the death-metal ones and are more like a cult gem that was thrown together. There’s plenty of barbaric blasting here but the group aren’t afraid to slow down and write songs that can actually be considered dynamic, such as ”Overweight Poesy”.
The songs have the usual blasting identity; it is the case of the second track “Nervous Waltz” that opens with a classical piece. I choose this song as illustrative for this album.
This kind of album catches you off guard. Every instrument’s used to its full potential, bringing surrealistic compositions. You’ve got classical, extreme metal, jazzy moods and so on, but still with that unmistakable balance between common sense and insanity that makes Igorrr’s albums so worthwhile.
Similar to the Baroque music, Igorrr expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also established a form of expression and communication.
Breakbeats, heavy metal riffs, extreme tempo changes, rhythmic ambiguities striking with ingeniously timed ideas again and again and again, until your mind is locked in. No wonder I would choose this album as a soundtrack for lockdown.
Madness and psychopathy, mixed together in a collection of frenetic yet surprisingly coherent compositions to serve pure art, Apparently, that’s the direction which metal genre moves at the moment. Seemingly erratic, unpredictable and ingenious. This is exactly what the world needs right now: more madness! But the good kind.
The production perfectly exudes this vibe as well, with roaring guitars and funky beats, all put together in a way that feels powerful and polished.
It goes without saying that Igorrr aren’t for everyone, but for those who enjoy this style, whatever that would be.
And, let’s hope we’ll see Igorrr live for the first time in Romania at DBE 10!
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