The False Dilemma

Bushwhacker is a Canadian band playing own kind of musical genre, sounding similar to a plethora of different musical groups still remaining original in their style. Despite being categorized under just the "progressive metal" label, this album seems to me an eclectic mixture of groove and sludge metal with some hints of thrash and death scraps. Yes, the prog component is relevant and it drives the overall album direction, but everyone knows how much musical labels generic are.

Bursting out as an explosive bubble the opening track Tower speeds straight ahead like a train and then it twitches wrinkling up in the streaming waters of an Agalloch-like ballad. Seven minutes after, the second track softly preludes with a Pat Metheny vibe to Dead Man's Waltz, my favourite track in the album: it's a twisting river of horse riding riffs, an unstoppable creek of percussion and guitars merging together into one thing. It's a perfect attempt to re-create a Richard Wagner in metal. Instruments seem like they're dancing as it communicates the song title: guitars are like strings in a orchestra, improvising a jam session played by Meshuggah and Mastodon together. Gojira influence is evidently strong and the worshiping can be traced in the use of the downtuned guitars and the cyclical riffs as groove metal commands. And so it goes the next track.

Aside from jamming, what mostly characterize this album is the continuous evolution and the constant variability of the music in general: every track seems like they have three or four songs joined together into a medley (Shikadance), and this is what makes this album a good prog metal album. Beside the fact every track is connected to another. The negative part is that they are quite foreseeable in their way of composing and executing and this could tire the listener, as some songs are not so different from certain Mastodon's Leviathan ones (The Return). However they don't fail in their execution and rather entertain as well, giving you a sweet overwhelming and melancholic feeling. Maybe the subsequent half hour is not delivered to the same high standards of the first one: for example Perfection, in my opinion, is a track that could be avoided, as it is quite repetitive and trivial. A Path sends the album to the moon again and it perfectly opens the eponymous band-track, following the right directions among the stars.

What makes this album an interesting one is the cultural background of the musicians, which can be subsumed by both songwriting and composition: their band name is an obvious reference to the American civil war mercenaries who continuously switched between the two factions, mostly performing terrorist and criminal acts in the deepest desolated lands. Their music, indeed, has strong Canadian songwriting, with a way of composing and creating atmosphere in the vein of Neil Young and Leonard Cohen, which makes them strongly rooted in their influences and musical culture. That's what I mostly love of the Canadian bands - their unique way to recreate through music their land love and belonging. When I think of Devin Townsend (another huge influence in the album), I cannot stop thinking about the spacious forests and landscapes of British Columbia and the urbanscapes of Vancouver, and so it's the same with them: the connection with their fatherland is really strong and their way of creating music seems to be strictly influenced by the hard and heavy winters of the Yukon. Like their con-national friend, Devin, they love to create such wide and epic musicscapes.

To reassume: this album is (almost) perfect. May sound disappointing sometimes, but it's definitely worth the listen and a very careful consideration. I'd personally define it the first (and last) "songwriter metal" album of all time. Absolutely recommended if you want to look beyond your backyard.

Sometimes you hear a name of a band you didn’t know before and it just passes by. Sometimes, you decide to check them out for no real reason, and in a very tiny amount of cases, such as with Canada’s Bushwhacker, you end up looking for your jaw somewhere in the basement. Their style fits in the “progressive metal” genre just fine, but don’t expect some Dream Theater-esque wankery. Instead, the prevalent focus is placed on complex and punishing rhythms, similar to what Gojira usually aims for (and utterly failed to achieve on their latest record), just with much more breathing room for the guitars. Rather than grooving, djenting or other weird verbs, Bushwhacker do not downplay the “metal” aspect of their genre for one moment.

The first sound you’ll hear after the opening sound sample is the loud, dry, almost grindcore-ish sounding snare. And then, the mayhem ensues. But rather than overwhelming you with a million notes per second, “Tower” systematically stabs one riff after another into your skull, but not before letting the sections develop a bit. Although the opener is probably the song with the highest density, it sets you up for the rest of the record. Bushwhacker seem to excel at taking a riff and extract maximum efficiency from it before moving along.

Case in point, “Shikadance”. It starts off with a chugging, repetitive riff that enables the drummer to have some (rare) polyrhythmic fun before launching into a total headbanger of a thrash section. Somewhere, Mille Petrozza just did a slow clap, but the Canadians just move along to another bludgeoning moment. Such moments, when Bushwhacker suddenly go full throttle confirm a remarkable sense of dynamics. No repetition is to be found here, but rather a constant stream of immersive songwriting that will make you guess what happens next. There are bits of thrash, prog, groove, melodic death and even black metal sprinkled in, so not even the style is entirely fixed.

And it gets better with the two highlights of the record, “Dead Man’s Waltz” and (quite aptly titled) “Perfection”. Both of them manage to add some instantly memorable hooks to the already captivating dynamic formula. The former continues developing section before settling for a wicked chorus that stops and starts twice and then lingers for one more riff change and probably the most memorable solo of the record. “Perfection”, then, develops a recurring melodic lick underneath the vocalist’s machine-like declamation. They manage to modify the melody twice, each time sounding more intense than before.

The rest of the record throws in some variety, as we have a couple of more free-flowing tracks, two mellow, but atmospheric interludes, and the epic (though short) closing track that actually throws in some blackened tremolo riffage. There’s also “The Return”, a Gojira-meets-Tool melodic groover that decides to play around with an extended lead section towards the end.

Speaking of leads, they are slightly subdued in the mix, which favors the rhythms guitars and the drums, but tend to maintain an eerie, chaotic presence. The riffset, as mentioned before, is tremendously varied. Same thing applies to the mostly harsh, yet understandable vocals – they work very well with the aggressive nature of the music, although there are a couple of moments (the “All sound is music” part in “Perfection”) where a clean voice could maybe work better. But for all that it’s worth: while the vocals are not astounding, they don’t lack power and add to the aggressiveness factor.

I saved Sean Komaromi for last, because what he does to the drums is nothing short of remarkable. His style is extremely kinetic and busy, never really settling for a simple beat. Even on the slow “The Return”, he turns to percussions to add some dynamics. He also loves his relentless double-bass, hearkening to Gojira’s Mario Duplantier in terms of style. The mix itself pushes the drums almost into the position of a solo instrument, allowing Komaromi to utilize his full arsenal.

One more thing that shines on “The False Dilemma” are the lyrics. Now, social criticism is a very common topic, but rarely is it done in such a biting way. Driving lyrics such as “You can’t deny that your life is nothing but a tooth in the fucking cogwheel!” or the simple angry sneer of “ Pave the streets / Arm the police / Order in the court / There's mouths to feed” definitely get the point across, and then consistenly add some venom into the general sense of disenchantment. This just goes to show that these guys have a clear idea of what they want to sound like.

All in all, there is little to dislike on “The False Dilemma”. This record never sacrifices its metallic raw power to achieve an original sound. Rather, Bushwhacker bring in a very fresh-sounding songwriting style that builds on the rhythmic sharpness of their influences, injecting plenty of kinetic energy into it. Perfection? Well, close enough. On some occasions, they really could develop the riffs even further and the production, while unusually effective, is not exactly balanced. At least these minor dents prevent this beast of a record to snap my neck right off. One of the 2016’s best.