Rancorous Observision

Disembarkation is a strange band. Disembarkation is a confusing band. Disembarkation may just cause you to spasm uncontrollably and drool. This just a quiet warning, because Rancorous Observation is one fucking weird album. As I write, I sit with one hand resting against my head trying to think of a way to explain what the hell is going on here. The band plays a form of technical-progressive-maybe-slightly-related-to-death-metal metal. The riffs are noodley yet still performed in somewhat of a stop start format, the vocals are shouted yet totally devoid of roughness, the rhythm section is jazzy and off time and the structuring is bizarre. This left me as confused as to what I'd just listened to more than any band I've heard since Mr Bungle or Crotchduster, but these guys do it without genre switching at all. Nothing comes out of left field at you because the very essence of the music already set up a tent there.

I have a feeling that every one of these crazy Canadian bastards is totally insane, and hell bent on destroying the general populace’s concept of reality. What the hell is Rancorous Observation any way? On that note, how the hell can an octopus be ominous? Why do the vocals have so much echo layered on them? And what’s with all the random falsettos? I don't know, but I can't help but be captivated by the sheer madness.

For every bit insane they are, these guys are talented. Every moment of the album is bulging at the gut with shredding riffs and solos, the drums are constantly changing patterns and the bass is every bit as complex and noodley as the guitars, bouncing and twanging along jazzily with the drumming. I mean, there's a version of Flight of the Bumblebee on here, which while barely recognizable due to the whole insanity factor, is performed with the precision and skill of any of the countless people who brag about being able to play it on youtube videos. With that said, these guys aren't just trying to blow you away with sheer skill, the focus is still on being as crazy as possible. The complex riffs and soloing serves a purpose of providing a successfully amorphous backdrop for the crazed and unique vocals.

Martin Fréchette's voice is odd. Very odd. The lyrics, which are about God knows what, are not sung, nor are they screamed, they are shouted, but in a way that seems to lack and roughness or any standard death metal norms. His voice sounds processed, both with an excessive, yet not annoying level of echo and also with some artificial clarification. There a couple of growls in the background, but instead most of the contrasts are delivered in the form of a very loud, out of control, booming falsetto styled scream. The falsetto too is loaded with artificial clarity and echo, but again, in its weirdness lies a lot of charm and appeal.

The production mirrors the oddness of the music itself. It too echoes a lot more than you expect, and despite being pretty processed doesn't ever sound irritating or sterile, simply a strange choice for an extreme metal album. Probably the strangest element of the production is on the drums, they're just so... un-death metal. The snare is surprisingly delicate and unobtrusive for an album with so many blast beats, in general it doesn't sound intense. It's odd though, for all of the tampering, the sound still has a lot of charm and character, somehow, Disembarkation have managed to make an album which is artificially clean, yet not sterile.

Sadly, for all the uniqueness, insanity and technical ability, I couldn't really call their music particularly enjoyable. Indeed it manages to be weird and crazy without being irritating, which is nice, but I couldn't call it great either. The soloing lacks character, the riffs are more or less noodles, which while pleasant enough are not memorable or composed together with any real thought or purpose. Nothing about this is really that good. It's an oddity no doubt, and yeah, it's a nice shock to the system of generic and predictable music, and it does this while not being unpleasant, but in the end it's not anything you'll searching out to listen to often.