Thursday, October 20, 2011

Holy Goddamn

This just crossed my path. Systems is a NC band from Chapel Hill. I remember the first time I saw them maybe two or three years ago, I arrived late at the show space, came in through the pouring rain and was just floored. Ol' Systems, who were previously known as Chiaroscuro, started by sounding a lot like Circle Takes the Square and subsequently got wayy more metal. I'm not sure where this new release fits in or how many they've had up to this point but a few songs in and I can already tell that Ghost Medicine is definitely a winner.

At first glance, it would seem to be nestled into that vague quote unquote "Post Metal" (or atmospheric sludge/post-hardcore, maybe?) sound of the mid-oughties popularized by Mouth of the Architect et al but but but after the emphasis on atmosphere and the oppressive heaviness, that's where the similarities end. Systems brings a huge repertoire to the table with hypnotic riffs, more tempos than "slow", constant changes, while introducing inventive, unpredictable movements in each individual song .

I can probably reduce a big part of my acute appreciation of this record down to two points. First, is that this band doesn't halfheartedly embrace that they are a metal band. So many adherents to this, errr, crossover style seem to almost contemptuously eschew, for example, real riffs, double bass parts, etc and strike a fairly minimalist tone because it's not "punk" to actually play heavy metal, or some bullshit like that -- I know I'm speaking rather generally but this is a phenomenon I've seen firsthand. To say this is just heavy, atmospheric hardcore would totally miss the point. Secondly, bands like this usually end up with this hodgepodge sound where you'll be listening to them and think "Okay, here comes the black metal part....here comes the Stoner part..." and on and on (like how The Atlas Moth sounded to me last time I heard them) but honestly, this is the first time in recent memory that I've heard a band that is definitely metal that doesn't neatly fit into any of the major subgenres. The seams don't show. Systems convincingly utilizes an enormous pallet of textures and styles and never once did I find myself thinking "Oh man, they totally stuck a death metal part right there."

This ruled. Please check out their bandcamp.

Systems - Ghost Medicine

No comments:

Post a Comment

Oh yeah??