KHARIOT - "Disymposium" 2011
In this wide World of genres we are bombarded with choice, assaulted with options, spoilt by the vast smorgasbord of dishes that Metal hath spread before us. Some bands tread the safe and bright paths that others... have blazed before them, the "trendy" genres of the time, or refine and reinterpret the music that reaches them. There are those who seek their way down darker paths,experimenting with the known and the unexplored to varying result. And then there those who
seem to have stumbled upon their sound through confounding and tortuous paths, combining the elixirs of Metal with frightening results....
Even from their first shows, Khariot showed their intention to step outside the box somewhat, and have certainly done that.
Take the more melodic movements of Symbolic-era Death and twist them until the dark beauty is replaced by a more ugly and discordant aspect. Put in some clean guitar sections that break the
rules in all kinds of ways and slide in some strangely positioned lead passages delivered with accuracy, skill and a complete lack of compassion. Take this strange combination and slide it along the Metal slide rule until takes on the flavour of Black rather than Death Metal, but in the same breath reach into the liquid timing structures reminiscent of some most unblack bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and Coheed and Cambria. There are influences at work here that are hard to place, but Khariot seem to delve into jazz and prog at times with a breathtaking disregard for their mental safety.
Mad Mikey's drumming is the spoon that stirs this toxic soup, utilizing patterns so free-flowing to be almost without structure, never offline but so frantic that it sometimes feels like he is right on the very edge of just going completely off road altogether. Unfocussed and catastrophically scattered one moment, tightly locked in the next, the drums are expressive, expansive and thoroughly insane. Blasts jostle with tom rolls, clattering cymbals jar the senses and baffle the brain, it seems that only Mikey knows what it is that Mikey is up to here. His drumming on "Disymposium" is like vials of nitro in a lottery ball cage.
Khariot add one last layer of aggression with some very extreme black Metal influenced vocals, typically both in and out of time with the music, and add one more layer of avant-garde with the sudden injection of keyboards in "Cacophony of the Insane" and the strange outro mystically named "11.11". Unpredictable is not a strong enough word to describe the way these songs flow uphill against the force of gravity and the laws of music.
So is it good? In terms of skills and musical vision it is a wonder, an hour long headfuck and a testament to the impossible depth of the Perth Metal scene. Is it enjoyable to listen to? Hmm... for myself it is a bit too outlandish and inhuman sounding to truly enjoy, too abrasive and chaotic to derive true pleasure from. But I have to feel that this is not going to disappoint the Khariot lads in the slightest, they clearly did not create this quite astonishing album to cater to the sentiments of
anyone with even the slightest of contemporal leanings. No, they set out to break moulds and defy convention, and the result is a unique blend of disharmony, disproportion and discomfort...
In fact Khariot could not have named this album better, "Disymposium" is a brilliantly conceived name for this radical, unique and abstract venture.
Review by Jez.
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