(Andy Synn takes some time to smell the flowers with Artificial Bouquet, out now)
If I said you had a Frail Body would you hold it against me?
Wait, no, let me try that again…
If I told you that Frail Body were practically a Black Metal band these days, would you listen to their new album?
Now, I’ll admit, the word “practically” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, and I sincerely doubt that Frail Body themselves would ever claim to be a Black Metal band – though I’m not sure that their previous “Screamo” and/or “Post-Hardcore” tags quite fit these days either.
But there’s no doubt in my mind that the visceral intensity and venomous delivery of songs like “Scaffolding” and “Berth” – which together open the album with an unparalleled, and unapologetic, burst of frenzied energy – could just as easily go toe-to-toe with the best of Calligram or Hexis as they could bands such as Infant Island or Ostraca (the latter pair, let’s be honest, also having dabbled with a dose of blastbeats ‘n’ bleak belligerence).
Sure, we’re unlikely to convince the average Gorgoroth fan to give the group a chance – especially not once they get wind of Frail Body‘s unashamed use of emotive ambience, nimble, nuanced bass lines, and desperate, shrieking vocals (though the latter might well appeal to some of the DSBM fans out there – but those with a slightly more open mind will more than likely grow to appreciate, then love, the band’s latest album over the coming days, weeks, and months.
In particular, I’d contend that long-time listeners to the likes of Downfall of Gaia or early Deafheaven (specifically their debut, Roads to Judah) will quickly fall head over heels for the electrifying strains of songs such as “Critique Programme”, “Runaway”, and “A Capsule in the Sediment”, all of which take full advantage of the record’s more dynamic and expansive approach (Artificial Bouquet clocks in at almost twice its predecessor’s length) to ebb and flow, back and forth, between aggression and introspection in a manner which proves to be as compelling as it is cathartic.
It occurs to me, however, that perhaps I’m being a little too negative – after all, there’s ample evidence that a significant section of the Black Metal scene is more than open to differing takes on the genre (I received a lot of positive feedback, for example, both here and elsewhere, for my review of last year’s excellent Rosa Faenskap album) as well as to the idea of other genres being influenced by it – and perhaps it’s worth thinking about things from the opposite perspective.
Let’s face it, while I’m sure many of the band’s existing audience will enjoy the album’s punkier and/or more “Post-Hardcore” inclined moments (especially during the more restrained “No Resolution), Black Metal fans aren’t the only group (rightly or wrongly) to have garnered a bit of a reputation for being cliquey and/or close-minded, and a big part of me is wondering how the more Screamo-inclined out there will react to the significantly more abrasive, borderline savage, approach behind tracks like “Refrain” and “Horizon Line”.
But that is, perhaps, the most exciting thing about Artificial Bouquet – no-one knew how it would be received, least of all the band themselves, and yet they did it anyway, channelling all of their fears and frustrations and hopes for the future into one of the most urgent and impassioned (there’s nothing artificial about the emotions on display here, let me tell you) albums of the year so far, a record which defies easy categorisation but which has the potential to earn the group a whole new generation of fans… even if they’re not the ones they expected!