Even though its wrapped in a brightly colored, almost prog rock album cover of nymphs and mermaids, the music is the polar opposite: ritualistic improvised rhythms, clanging metal and tons of effects, all of which conveys an odd mix of sleaze and evil.
The album seems to be split conceptually into two different halves, with the first half focusing on percussive, occasionally rhythmic pieces, and the second half pushing more into harsher and violent territory."The Inbetween Sleep," on the first half focuses around an echoing bass guitar, a single note throb that becomes louder and more intense as it goes on, bringing in a variety of distant, echoing clicks and random rattles.There's an understated, but notable ritualistic vibe running through."Belly Trapped" has an even looser concept of rhythm driving it, mostly generated via random, found sounds that sound like ordinary household items gone awry.More dominant is a slew of grinding passages, none of which are very loud, but still abrasive, and reverb by the bucketload.
The second half goes more for the harsh, aggressive sounds and even darker moods."The Transformation of Love-Honey for the Queen" layers looped chants, echoing voices, and percussion into something that sounds more suited for accompanying ancient fertility rites.That is, until the effects come in and electronic chaos and screamed voices go somewhere else entirely, but retaining a sense of crazed, manic energy.
The accompanying piece, "The Transformation of Love-Victory of the White Snake," focuses more on inhuman sounds:crunchy, tactile loops and echoing clicks expand forever.The really shrill sine waves that show up, however, are a detriment more than anything else, enshrouding everything in a tinnitus haze that is too distracting. This is one of a few flaws that hamper this album.Another is the constant looped recording of a spoken "Kristus Kut" that appears with the same frequency throughout the well over 20 minute duration of "Vagina Libertatis."That track is a nice stew of bass guitar squall, power electronics vocals and spastic percussion, but the loop reminded me of one of those annoying pop-up ads that plague television these days.I know who I'm listening to, I don't need to be told every 5 seconds.
These, and a few other moments, are a blight on an otherwise strong work.There's a certain joyful disregard of any sort of musical conventions that is really notable throughout Butterfly King, which is a plus in my book.Unfortunately, with that comes the cost of having annoying bits that detract from the disc, but never render it awful or unlistenable.
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