Apoplexy in Six Parts

Upon my first listen of Apoplexy in Six Parts, I was truly blown away. The music is very experimental, and has an appealing space-age like feel to it at some points. I was particularly impressed with the way that some songs progress into more melodic sections, which gives the music a bit of an epic quality.

Organ are an instrumental band, but don't be put off by this fact. The music alone is always interesting enough to keep the listeners attention, and I believe vocals would simply make the songs sound cluttered and gimmicky.

The album production is fitting for the album. It sounds raw, but not to the extent that you can't make out what is being played. The drums stand out most in the mix, and the bass drum is particularly dominant. For the majority of the album, the guitars have a classic "buzz saw" black metal style guitar tone, although there are moments of clean guitar on the album too, in which a nice, clear tone is used. The keyboards are often low in the mix, but not too low, and they significantly add to the odd avant-garde style of the music.

There are six songs on the album, three of which are longer in length and three of which are shorter. The three longer songs are all stand-out tracks. However, the shorter songs seem unfinished and seem like mere interludes in-between the longer songs (perhaps with the possible exception of "III"). In general, the whole album seems a bit too short, and after repeated listens it becomes a bit tiresome.

Also, the album comes with a bonus disc which is comprised simply of four dull ambient noise tracks. A bit pointless really.

But to sum up, Apoplexy in Six Parts is a worthwhile album. The drums (although often sticking to blast-beats) maintain a raw aggression, but there is enough melody and experimentation present to keep it interesting. "II" in particular is a stand out track. I look forward to hearing how the band progresses.