Mechanical Organic - Disrepair Part Two-The Pleasure Fled (7/10) - Australia - 2009


Genre: Progressive Metal / Avantgarde
Label: Self-production
Playing time: 21:56
Band homepage: Mechanical Organic

Tracklist:

Into The Fangs Of Lunacy
Into The Fangs Of Lunacy (Radio Edit)

When you get right down to it, Avant-garde is little more than a term used to describe anything that doesn’t fall into more commonly known categories. Applied to any form of music, you’ll end up making yourself blue in the face analyzing and attempting to articulate what it is you are hearing in terms of what are understood as established conventions. MECHANICAL ORGANIC is probably the most extreme example of this that has come to my attention, even when measured against such wandering musical free spirits as SENMUTH and JENNIFER BATTEN.

What you get with this outfit is essentially the opposite of what most would expect from a band, particularly in so far as the second installment of their recent album series, dubbed “Disrepair Part 2; The Pleasure Fled”, is concerned. Instead of a full length album, aching with songs that challenge the conventional wisdom of what is considered Progressive Metal, what emerges is a singular epic song clocking in at over seventeen minutes titled “Into The Fangs Of Lunacy”, which is accompanied by a shorter version of the same song.

Whether this is to be considered a single or an EP is anyone’s guess, as is the case with what genre this would fall into. The song itself is built out of a fairly impressive set of melodic fragments, minimalist grooves, and an overhanging Ambient atmosphere. The structure is more akin to a dueling sectional approach rather than a standard song, where chorus-like vocal sections trade blows with a series of audio clips from a noted critic of society and conspiratorial thinker. The vocal sections are a bit plain, and the song starts to drag a bit after the first 10 minutes, but a continual progression of melodic material does give this an edge over many would be art songs found in the Metal realm.

Like many independent acts out there, the audience for this would probably be small even if the creators of this music were independently wealthy. Even those looking to broaden their horizons beyond the complicated realm of Progressive Rock influenced bands like RUSH will be challenged by the contempt for conventional thinking that this song has both lyrically and formally. Perhaps it is my own obsession with the Ambient releases of BURZUM, and my musical guilty pleasure SENMUTH that has made this accessible to me. But nonetheless, as one of the aristocratic characters from “Tarzan Of Greystoke” said, “it’s really an acquired taste, but do try some.”

(Online October 28, 2009)

http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=6&id=16750