A headfuck for many reasons.A headfuck for any listener, blending as they do a mind- bending array of musical styles into a rich, edifying whole.A headfuck of a band to try and categorize, for much the same reason, and most importantly (ok, least importantly, let's be honest) a headfuck to try and review, because crass implications of genre and easy comparisons to other acts are pointless and trite.
Die!Avant Garde continues the RTFD tradition on in fine style , a mostly instrumental collection of compositions that suck in jazz, prog rock, electronica and a myriad of other styles to create something that is at once cinematic and bombastic while remaining an oddly intimate experience.Witness the way 'Sky Is Dust.Thunder Crawls like Rust' swirls into view with a spine tingling piano refrain, before hooking you in with a sparse symphony of Floyd-esque guitar and dramatic thumping bass.'Black River Time Bombs' is all abstract menace and queasy pedal work, recalling long forgotten UK techno creeps Autechre in its' paranoid ,snake-swallowing-itself song structure.The band's sound can best be described as a soundtrack to your worst but most poignant nightmare, that nausea inducing fear that lives on in your lizard brain after waking up from a bad dream.
Of course, as with all RFTD records, it's not all (glorious) doom and gloom.'Neither Of Us Will Live On(The Burden of Purpose) is filled with a restrained sense of hope and purpose, and showcases also the more prominent, guitar led direction of the group on this record, moving away from the more electronica/industrial tinged sound of previous efforts.Closer 'The Devil's Laws' is almost playful in its' spookhouse stomp,incorporating ,as you do, a piece of virtuoso piano brilliance in a wonderfully brain melting coda that's sure to have you reaching for the replay button as soon as it's over.
Overall, not an easy record to define,or hell ,at times ,to even listen to.But one which 'll stay with you,and begs to be explored through numerous repeated listens.A soundtrack to both your wildest dream, and most twisted nightmares.
Rating: 8.5/10
For fans of : I'm not even going to try . . .
Listen here: http://radioforthedaydreamers.bandcamp.com/album/die-avant-garde
Stephen O ' Connor
bornagainnihilist@gmail.com
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