I truly thought that the self released EP from Australia’s Brazen Bull would be the most absolutely bat shit insane band I would hear in 2009.
Wrong.
Apparently this is this Italian band’s second album (along with 4 Ep/splits), and it has to be some off the most of the wall, experimental grindcore/spazz tech metal I’ve ever heard, putting the likes of Lye By Mistake, Dillinger, Psyopus, Brutal Truth, and Cephalic Carnage to shame, while calso ulling from all of them. Throw in a full time baritone saxophone to the mix, and you have a 31-minute trip into some truly bizarre and genre shattering noise.
And truthfully, some (maybe most) will term this as noise. There’s no real tangible structures or cohesion just a collage of spastic, stuttering, feral screams, discordance, frantic blast beats, caustic squealing riffs, industrial programming and FX, sudden jazzy spurts and all of it laced with a fucking Saxophone. Yes, a saxophone, and its utterly schizophrenic (and borderline grating) use makes the likes of Pan Thy Monium look like John Coltrane.
Breaking down tracks is rather pointless task as the album is full on typically wacked out 70s Italian horror movie weirdness played via grindcore. The likes of “Nouvelle De Spasticité & Epilepsie”, “Defragmenting Rotunda”, the creepy title track and the aptly named “Free Non-Jazz Powerviolence Sonata” run the gamut from trippy, dreamy ambience to ear shattering chaos, lurching discordance, and slow burning atmospherics. It’s truly unsettling and unfathomably psychotic at times. And did I mention there’s mother-fucking saxophone squawking along in the background the whole time? The Sax does slow down for the smoky “Biodegradazioni”, but other wise its, it’s a schreeching, skronking, teeth gnashing injection to the already ear shredding cacophony.
Il Secondo Tragico will be a challenging, mind fuck of a listen, no matter how ardent a metal listener you are. But it’s a great talking piece and novelty album to throw on to get rid of your in-laws.
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Is there really a place for bands like this in the world? I mean I like hearing off the wall weirdness sometimes ( I still listen to mr. bungle) and I love the noisier stuff sometimes just cause it feels more brutal then a new Soilwork record with a Tue Madsen mix y’know?
But is there really a valid reason to seek out and purchase a cd from a band like this, if it really is unstructered noise?
It’s a matter of opinion and “taste” I suppose, but something is missing from music today and especially heavy music and that is……..songwriting.
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 14:48it’s not my cup of tea either but the noise genre has been around for a long time and obviously someone must like it
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 19:30me…
on Feb 20th, 2010 at 00:06this cd is great! It’s noisy and weird, but it’s also varied and a lot of fun …perfect for me while I work on my paintings for hours and hours, when I seem to go for more demanding stuff
on Feb 20th, 2010 at 07:24can’t stand pretentious crap like this.
on Feb 23rd, 2010 at 09:28Your comment about John Coltrane implied his playing was staid compared to artists of current day. I would suggest listening to some of his post A Love Supreme albums and let me know if you still feel the same way.
on Feb 27th, 2010 at 22:48