SAVAGE SINUSOID

When it comes to insane artists with genre fusions that simply seem impossible to perform well together at all, Igorrr often an artist that I'll mention, their unique combination of breakcore with baroque and classical music, mixed in with other genres such as swing and even death metal at points, making for a truly one of a kind listening experience. The issue with this is that in the case of their latest album, Savage Sinusoid, much of the experimentation that's done here can feel like little more than quirkiness for quirkiness sake, often having very little substance outside of laughing at the maelstrom of chaos thrown at the audience with each song. With that said, I feel as if this album still works well enough that I can still call the album somewhat successful. The electronic aspects of the music are toned down compared to previous albums such as Hallelujah, and instea feels more like an avant garde metal album with this absurd array of stylistic concepts, and while it can often be interesting, it simultaneously misses the mark a number of times.

Viande, while simple, is a track I find really funny and overall a decent track, starting off with ridiculous screaming before a repetitive, heavy riff takes centre stage, before some electronic elements are thrown in to alter the vocals further, leading to absolutely ridiculous results that work quite well. The violently eclectic approach taken is highlighted in ieuD, which focuses upon the more classic Igorrr sound compared to many of the tracks, with the operatic singing and the harpsichord, while simultaneously bombarding the listener with walls of impenetrable noise every so often. This is what I consider to be one of the greatest songs on this album, as it makes sure not to go too far with some kind of pointless venture out into a different style and simply produces a well put together track that's full of power despite the initial incoherence of it all. On the other side of things, Houmous works so well as the most wild track on this album, entirely embracing absurdity without sacrificing any of the fun of it, along with keeping some consistency in terms of melody and general feel to make it an amazingly engaging experience, with the saxophones and even chiptune parts of the song still lending themselves surprisingly nicely to the overall enjoyability of the song.

Opus Brain is what I consider to be the first misstep on the album, with the electronic parts often feeling obnoxious, and the parts that utilise the female vocals feeling like a weaker version of Hallelujah's opening track, not to mention that it fizzles out rather than ends in a satisfying manner. The next track, while an interesting diversion, really doesn't work for me in the context of this album, and feels quite uneventful overall until the end, where it begins to sound like some sort of interesting build up, despite the fact that it goes nowhere. Thankfully the next 2 tracks pick things up again to some degree, Spaghetti Forever being incredibly grandiose with some dark undertones, sounding almost like some kind of twisted track from a Castlevania soundtrack. Cheval on the other hand is likely the most accessible track on the album, having much more of a clear structure and progression rather than the sensory overload that can be brought on by other tracks, something that's especially great in terms of how the electronic elements suddenly jump in to make the baroque death metal track all of a sudden sound like some sort of breakcore breakdown, just great stuff all around.

Unfortunately, these final few tracks are where the album falls apart for me, as the remaining songs feel as if pieces of the cutting room floor were merely strung together as a way to fill time. Va te foutre particularly feels like this, but manages to go far beyond just that and become borderline headache inducing in all the wrong ways, and goes far beyond merely being irritating. While Robert isn't quite this egregious, I feel that it's almost equally as useless in the grand scheme of things, and brings me right back to the issue of this album sometimes feeling more like experiementation for experimentation sake rather than attempting to create anything actually engaging, and while that sometimes works, it falls through when much of this album has displayed just how well this is able to be executed.

On the whole, despite the fact that this album is seriously flawed in a number of respects, there are still a number of tracks on it that I find a joy to listen to, such an odd sound being applied so well in certain cases making for such a compelling listen. I both love and feel greatly disappointed in this album for this exact reason however, as Igorrr shows how these concepts that seem impossible to properly execute can sound good, yet often falters and instead focuses on merely making weird music for the sake of weird. If this album were a bit more refined in its tracklisting and possibly adding a couple more tracks that are the quality of the good stuff here, I'd consider this album absolutely amazing, but as it stands, there's definitely some missed potential.

Best tracks: ieuD, Houmous, Cheval

Weakest tracks: Problème d'émotion, Va te voutre, Robert

Verdict: Undoubtedly an album that obliterates so many genre conventions in order to create easily what I consider to be one of the strangest listens out there, even if a lot of it is merely strange for these bizarre combinations of sound rather than any kind of deeper atmosphere or tone. While I like a lot of this, I still feel as if it misses the mark in a number of places that weaken the overall product, but it's still something I'd recommend if you enjoy weird music.