II: FRAILTY

I was a little confused when I started playing this as it was not what I expected at all, then I realised this was not the Japanese avant-prog/RIO act O-U but is actually a Chinese prog metal act. That hyphen is definitely important. The band comprise Lynn Wu (vocals), Anthony Vanacore (drums), Jing Zhang (guitars) and Chris Cui (bass), and there is a very little here to state which country they come from (the vocals are obviously foreign, but while I now know they are Mandarin they could be anything tbh) as they have been heavily influenced by the likes of Devin Townsend and his complex wall of frenetic sound and strange djent, and it is not surprising that the mad Canuck guests on vocals on one track.

The only way to describe this is "intense", as they have taken the heart of Meshuggah and then brutalised it yet somehow also bring in some pop tendencies here and there. Wu has a lovely clear voice which provides a great top end contrast to the heavy bottom, while she can sometimes be singing clear, almost twee, melodies over the top of music which is jagged, shifting and highly complex. Vanacore obviously has more than the requisite number of arms and legs, and he must be exhausted at the end of a performance as he never stops shifting the attack, never taking a rest. The keyboards are an important part of the album, providing the melodic link between the rhythm section, guitar and vocals, yet sadly I do not know who provided them here, yet it is the contrast between the attack and the vocals which really makes this stand out. In many ways it is of little surprise that Townsend agreed to be involved with the production and mixing as it is taking his vision as a base and then moving on from that.

Overall this is a fascinating prog metal release which mixes in many influences, although not the Chinese folk one may expect, and the result is something which is incredibly heavy at times, pop at others, all brought together with interesting vocals. Well worth investigating further.