Aliena(c)tion

This garden wall I bumped my head into some 11 years ago… I got their whole discography (until then) by a guy, the only other metalhead I know who’s an avid fan of the band. I tried to propagate their cause far’n wide; some people liked them, some didn’t, and those who didn’t tried to sound diplomatic by saying something like “This is clearly an acquired taste”, or “I just don’t have time to invest in this complex music”, trying to placate me for their lack of understanding. I wasn’t upset at all, this is a most difficult band to get into, and it indeed requires quite a bit of time for one to grasp what’s going on on a single Garden Wall effort…

I did have (and still do) the time, though, and have listened to each of their albums multiple times. I have to admit that there are moments which I haven’t been able to decipher yet (what with the longest opener in metal history, the 34-min long “Chemotaxis” from “Chimica”…), but I believe this is the marvel of the musical maestro, to remain misunderstood here and there, and based on my thorough research around this vast “garden” I personally think that these folks are pretty much the finest progressive metal act on the planet… alongside Zero Hour.

Progressive metal in its essence is bound to remain misunderstood and not readily accessible; the moment a supposedly progressive metal act starts getting all the attention from media and audience alike, with millions of worshippers singing praises and composing odes their way, one can instantly know that there’s something wrong with this outfit since progressive can’t simply merge with the mainstream; both phenomena are mutually exclusive. Writing complex, mind-stimulating music automatically puts the artist in the underground, away from the spotlight and the fanfares, this shady, not very well traversed area where all true auteurs belong. And this Italian bunch can surely be considered the leaders of this area, but to deserve this position the guys first had to get rid of the pompous Dream Theater-esque embellishments that peppered their first two instalments. “The Seduction of Madness”, the third showing, took care of this inconvenience, and the band were ready to go. But from then on it was left to the fans to decipher their ultimately complex “King Crimson meets Rush meets Genesis meets some extraterrestrial visitation from out of space” mosaics which were patiently woven on each subsequent album, served with an appropriate metallized flavour, also seriously disturbing the thrash on “Forget the Colours”.

I would recommend the album reviewed here as the starting point for any metalhead who hasn’t been previously acquainted with the Garden Wall repertoire, simply because it’s the most accessible; accessible by the band standards, mind you; cause with the shortest track closing on 6-min you have to understand that this won’t be a straight-forward Motorhead-ish roller-coaster ride. It would by all means be a challenging experience, but at least the surreality, the bizarreness, and the disorienting psychedelia, so prominent in the band’s arsenal, have been reduced considerably leaving the riff-constructed skeleton on which the album has been built literally bare for a large portion of the time. And it does deliver, in spades at that the opening riffs of “Patogenesi” boding infernal intricacies ala late-80’s/early-90’s Mekong Delta, with classical virtuosities walking hand in hand with jarring hectic riffage which later also recalls Watchtower and Spastic Ink.; the wide vocal diversity, ranging from sinister semi-recitals to nearly hardcore-ish shouts, leads with it one of the most oddball rhythm-sections encountered ever, a long ambient/quiet stretch adding more to the eccentricity. “Ohne Zuckerzusatz” already promises tons of eclecticism with the German title, and one shouldn’t look further than the twisted melodic tunes served at the beginning for a least ordinary musical experience which later settles for creepy, minimalistic meandering technicality until the arrival of the next in line balladic interlude; the alternation of the two sides is a staple tool in the band’s repertoire, but is never overdone or awkwardly executed, and one would easily learn to forgive such lyrical infatuations once exposed to the superb Coroner-esque vortexes afterwards.

“Song for an Angel” is a semi-balladic fusion-infused track, the respite here after which comes “Ekpyrosis”, a wa-wa lead-driven extravaganza in the first half, the listener further perplexed by the surreal jazzy cacophony that follows suit; more coherent leads are served later to accompany an idyllic balladic etude. This last composition brings the album back to the bizarre world of earlier recordings, the equilibrium restored by “W8less” although the strange alien, atonal intro tells a different story bringing the approach in the vicinity of Mekong Delta again, and also the Finnish avant-gardists Flounder; needless to add, another “flirtation” with the ballad is provided, but it’s the superb Shrapnel-like leads and the weird staccato riff-patterns that steal the show, making this cut a mandatory listen for all left-hand-path pursuers. “Oniros” is an encompassing 9-min opus which sums up the entire progressive metal kaleidoscope; the serpentine Coroner-esque march from the beginning alone is worth the price of admission, but there’s much more offered later like crunchy Confessor-eque doominess, complex riff knots ala Sieges Even’s “Steps”, the obligatory balladic stretch, and creepy technical meanderings which are a wonder to listen to due to their hypnotic character. “The Doll” begins like a chapter from Psychotic Waltz’s “A Social Grace” with strange melodic tunes piling up before more orthodox uplifting hooks take over and bring memories of pillars like Rush and Jethro Tull, the somewhat epic aura spiced by the next in line quiet introspection and some spastic jazzy riff-formulas this unpredictable saga, as well as the whole album, finalized by another optimistic melodic etude.

If I have to choose one album from the progressive metal roster to represent the whole movement in its entirety, it would be the one here. The only nuance from the genre it doesn’t cover is the progressive death metal one, but the latter couldn’t have fitted into the overall frame; after all, there are tons of extreme progressive metal outfits out there who try to squeeze every single intricate note into their repertoire. Garden Wall couldn’t care less about such overdone, often dishevelled concoctions; they follow their eclectic path unerringly by making sure that every ingredient they utilize makes sense somehow; and if it doesn’t, then it could be savoured for its audacious musical ingenuity alone. Originality and creativity are very high on their list, but this can be a double-edged sword at the same time cause the refusal to follow well-trodden alleys often puts the artist(s) on the road to obscurity, and with eight whole full-lengths released so far you can’t say that Garden Wall are a household name; it’s very unlikely that they would ever become one, as a matter of fact. Some may blame them for composing music just for themselves, with no regards to any particular audience, but this I guess applies to all geniuses: just think about the abstract canvases of Picasso and Dali, hardly the most mainstream and digestible vistas one has ever come across…

“Alienation” this is not; there are plenty of moments from their earlier repertoire that can be categorized as such. Neither is it “Aliena(c)tion” whatever that may mean; this is an immaculately constructed, carefully plotted entry into the annals of the more serious side of metal the band, intentionally or not, making those references to the mentioned luminaries entirely their own, seamlessly merging them into one whole fascinating, albeit ultimately challenging puzzle. Accessibility in its purest form is perhaps not such a common occurrence, but the overall layout is not that difficult to swallow, and fans of the outside-the-box musical “excursions” are guaranteed to spend days, and even weeks, with this opus. And will most likely rush to track down the follow-up, “Assurdo” (2011), only to find out that such an ultimate exercise in bizarreness and surreality should have better been left alone, leaving psychos and raving lunatics in its trail. But that’s an entirely different story…