Chicago’s Gigan has been around for close to 20 years.  I’m trying to wrap my head around this!!   I’ve known the main man and axe grinder Eric Hersemann for like 30 years.  On their last tour for their fourth album Undulating Waves of Rainbiotic Iridescence, I got onstage with them and did opening growls with their vocalist Jerry Kavouriaris.  It was super special.

I have reviewed their last several albums and their fifth one Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus, sports yet another terrific and out-of-this-world album cover.  Gigan is a complicated band.  As I have said I have known Eric for a long time and the sound of Gigan comes from a very philosophical, non-linear, interesting man.  He is a dear friend and I have said before Gigan is a complicated band.  Like an Ulcerate, Pyrrhon, or even a band like Meshuggah, these are not “easy” types of listening bands.  The reason why I enjoy these bands is because they push forward their respective metal genres and will test your limits, at some points.  Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus is 8 songs in 47 minutes and once again this is a complicated listen.

Also Eric-great job with these tongue-twister song titles, for crissakes!!! The eight-minute “Trans-Dimensional Crossing of the Alta-Tenuis” starts things off.  The density of this sucker, at the opening, with off the wall riffing I am like, ohhhh boiiiiiiiiii.  This maybe is the nosiest Gigan album.  Drummer Nate Cotton is bashing the hell out of the cymbals and his drum patterns are complicated, yet the song has not really taken shape…It’s all like an opening jam sesh until the 2.36 isolated guitar riff and the drums then BOOM!!!!! Right into the sonic boom off-kilter blasting.  Jerry is growling maniacally and how he remembers all these complicated lyrics, is beyond me.  This song is brash!!  The blasting gives way to mid-paced moments.  Some dual-layered smatterings of vocals around the 4.30 section all the signature weird guitar squeals, sounds and riffing from Eric are on full display with this song.  OOFA…..I need to catch my breath after this song.  There is so much going on with this song, it’s a lot.

“Ultra-Violet Shimmer and Permeating Infra-sound” is up next with off-the-wall drumming from Nate.  Kind of why I mentioned Meshuggah earlier.  Just listen to the polyrhythmic nature of this opening sequence.  It’s actually breathtaking in a good way.  Jerry lets loose with some higher pitched screams/vocals which has some sort of an effect on them, truly sounding otherworldly as do the sounds at the 2.20 section.  This song I swear was constructed by a friggin’ alien.  It is that off the wall.  I love this song.  It’s not even four minutes yet it packs a punch and slap right upside my damn head.

“The Strange Harvest of the Baganoids” has those strange guitar sounds and dissonant riffs from Eric and the song meanders forward like some giant lumbering Kaiju.  Jerry’s vocals come in at the perfect time and this song is catchy.  I know not a word you will usually hear me say about Gigan, but there is a sort of jumpiness to the mid-paced moments during these moments.  The wild vocals return and the thumping sounds of the rhythm section are hypnotic.

Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus is the most immersive sounding and “hey let’s throw even the kitchen sink at the listener”, Gigan album yet.  It’s not my favorite, that belongs to their second album from 2011 – Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes.  That does not mean I do not like this, I very much enjoy this new Gigan album.  It’s a bit noisier sounding than past releases and the dissonance is used to maximum capacity on the entire scope of the album.

Gigan continues to push the boundaries in terms of sounds and musical ability and each time I go back to this or their past releases there’s like a dozen new things I hear.  Again not an easy listen, but if you like some of the bands I mentioned above, based on some of the things I said, you will enjoy Gigan.  They are a wild and fascinating band!!

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