The Dissociative Path

We all know the concept of "worship bands"—those bands who shamelessly replicate more popular band's sounds: Sabbath worship, Burzum worship, Death worship, etc. Every big name band has their worshipers. Here's a sister concept: "collage bands." Collage bands are savvier than worship bands. Instead of copying one band's sound, they copy a number of popular bands sounds, mixing and matching elements as they see fit. It's just as derivative, but a little less transparent.

The Portuguese black metal act Ab Imo Pectore is a quintessential instance of collage black metal. Their debut demo, The Dissociative Path is like a pu pu platter of popular sounds from the last ten years of black metal. In general, Ab Imo Pectore goes for the mysterious, alchemical aesthetic that has skyrocketed in popularity since Blut Aus Nord released The Work Which Transforms God. There are lots of chanting and moaned clean vocals that distinctly recall quirky singing on Ved Buens Ende's Written in Waters. The growls are husky yet shrill and shot through with reverb. The riffs lie somewhere in between the nightmarish sounds of Xasthur and the dissonant madness of Blut Aus Nord. There are slow, creepy passages that would fit snugly on a Leviathan album.

So is there anything original on this demo? Not really. Everything on here has been done before. Ab Imo Pectore is not bringing anything new to the table, it’s just rearranging the utensils… but now you might have trouble finding the butter knife. In other words, these various elements aren't exactly priced together in a coherent fashion. For example, the opening track, “Sheerers of God” throws everything at the listener: mean dissonant riffs, eerie slow passages, and faster, chaotic passages. There are chants, growls and a variety of spoken word passages. It’s all just too much sound in too little time. It’s as if the band wanted to throw the kitchen sink at the listener on the first track, but threw out their back trying. This six minute song probably needs to be about twice as long to flush out all the ideas it contains.

“Mother of Mothers” and “Sulphur Garden” are simpler songs and a little more coherent, showing that Ab Imo Pectore can write decent, if not spectacular black metal. Then there's the closer, “A Boundless Dispersion” which is a stupid waste of time. It's one of the vacuous ambient pieces that far too many black metal bands are infatuated with but have no idea how to execute. This piece sort of sounds like cars driving by on a city street at night; not a sound you exactly want to pay to hear. Tossing six minutes empty space at the end of this demo brings the whole thing down.

Not only is The Dissociative Path a collage album, it's kind of an ugly one. It's like when your kid brings home his or her first collage; you might see a little potential, but mostly you're just bummed that this crappy piece of art has to be on your fridge for the next month. Perhaps Ab Imo Pectore will progress over time, but this is a demo only a mother could love.

(Originally written for http://www.deafsparrow.com)