Abstractive Noise: of the Adder’s Bite

Now and then we receive something so mind-blowingly spectacular it takes us too long to write the review.  Why?  Because words escape us.  We can tear apart the most pathetic of albums with little effort, we can gum profusely the awesomness of post-black metal, but when we face something like this, our words are mere fuzz in the wind.  We lack metaphor and style, we start to ramble nothing that makes any sense.  When something this begiggen good comes along, we make up words to approximate swearing and then realize a few words later how stupid that was.  And it’s sad, it’s really sad because this one sat in the “just came in” stack for about three months.  Why?  Let us admit our faults openly.  The cover’s just awesome, it is, just beautiful art.  But the band title made us think, “oh, great, some sort of static with screaming over it, most likely.”  Completely incorrect.  We apologize, fully, to this Greek master of sound, to this soundsmith who commands pure emotion and constructs it through musical prose we haven’t heard around here in a long, long time.  We haven’t got to the end of the year yet, but look for this one to be in our top whatever list of 2014, because you better believe it’s begiggen going there.

  

Where do we even begin?  We already wasted a third of your time.  of the Adder’s Bite is, quite simply, a perfect release.  The packaging, the presentation, the thought into the track titles, and especially the music, it’s just perfect.  Perhaps the band name could use a changing, though, because this is far, far from noise.  Abstractive Noise might be half honest, but it’s carefully constructed abstraction, so the second word no, totally false.  The conception here is actual thoughtful, for once, something you often don’t see with this kind of music.  Usually we get the anti-Christian, pro-Satan, panties in the air yawn circus, but not here.  Taken directly from the artist, of the Adder’s Bite is supposed to represent a central character, a man, moving through a world that is a giant machine, eventually revealed at the end to be a woman.  Each song is part of his journey into this realization as he investigates this unusual world.  Coupled with the cover art, this album was set to destroy.  First impressions nothing, this thing impresses upon you before you even see it.

 

So let’s get to the music.  If you peeped the score below, you already know what we think, but let’s give some details.  The musical arrangements in of the Adder’s Bite are dense, combining several genres and instruments into a completely concise landscape.  Violins, clattering sounds, atmospheric guitars, elements of IDM, there’s practically everything high and mighty present in this one, but it’s never, ever a mere coalescence of sound or a hodge-podge of material for the sake of satisfying several fan circles and capturing the “noise musician of the year” title.  It’s too humble for that.  Never once does he lose grasp of his vision, never once does he lose command of the music, it’s absolutely perfect.  And it’s perfect for the reason that we’re dealing with someone who understands music, especially of this type.  Each song is a carefully arranged work for a complete symphony, if you will, filled with depression, darkness, melancholy, disease, apathy, loathing, all of those good, dark things that make us think.  But let’s put an end to this.  It’s one thing for us to stretch and reach for some way to explain it, but it’s another entirely for you to experience it yourself.  So do yourself a favor and let’s end this tritely.

 

Abstractive Noise Official Facebook

Written by Stanley Stepanic

Abstractive Noise: of the Adder’s Bite
Self-Released
5 / 5