Words by Jimmy Glinster
Picture an 8-bit video game version of a Technical Death Metal riff, and that’s exactly how this album kicks off with the opening track, Flight of The Quetzalcoatlus. Then it gets heavy and technical, just as you’d expect from an Intergalactic Tech Death Metal Band. Noodling guitars, double kick, and guttural vocals with a touch of melodic piano pretty-well sum this one up. Very interesting sound, and I’m quite liking the scattered samples and keys throughout the mix.
Contemporary Calamity kicks in next and follows suit almost flawlessly. This is some serious guitar work which loosens up to some killer heavy grooves throughout the choruses (?). Pianos and Spanish Guitars add to the flavour without bringing it down too much and lead us into a guitar solo and a little more tech shred, then some more piano, and then some more guitar noodling.
Pretty cool and quirky little track, and I’m really liking where this is going so far!
Now, it must be time for an Intergalactic War! If War of The Worlds had a technical death metal soundtrack, I’m pretty sure this track would have made it in at the top of the track listing! I didn’t realize there were so many notes on a guitar, but these guys seem to know where every single one of them are, and they display them at every twist and turn. This one does get a little whack in the middle, but I’m guessing that’s exactly what they were aiming for.
With an apparent lack of guitar skill (obviously not), why not introduce a couple of guest shredders for the next two tracks. Call of the Squirrel introduces Joe Satriani for a bit of a twiddle on the old axe, and Nick Padovani joins the ranks on Unleashing Chaos. This shit’s getting real interesting, although sometimes hard to follow, which only adds to the interesting “ shredtastic and bombastic music “, that The Beat of Nod have created.
I stole that bombastic bit from their press release, as it was just too fuckin good not to be repeated, and this is an interesting and bombastic journey to say the least.
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Next up is The Plan for Multiversal Creation, and at first it sounds like it’s going to be a pretty fucking epic plan. Yep, and how the hell these guitarists remember all these notes and their progressions is beyond me. Enter the Guardians of the Multiverse featuring John Matos. Not sure who John Matos is or what he does on this track, but Wikipedia tells me he is a mural artist that has created some custom guitar artwork for Eric Clapton and Ed Sheeran, among some other “notable exhibitions” of his work. Not sure if any of that has anything to do with this album, or if he’s even the same bloke, but it took up a few good sentences and let me drift into the madness of these last couple of tracks. Crazy plan, crazy, crazy plan!
I sure hope the guardians can follow it!
Well, the latest threat is The Latest Threat, and it begins with a threatening guitar noodle and some brutal as fuck vocals. At some point here the vocalist morphs into a gremlin and the song takes on a new less technical groove followed by some piano noodling. Piano noodling, is that even a thing? I guess they got bored with guitar noodling or something?
Nope, there we go again! Pretty sure these guys have invented at least 7 new guitar scales on this album.
The final track Shredding of the Cosmos introduces a long list of guests including Sanjay Kumar, Matias Quiroz, and Michael Angelo Batio. I have no idea who any of those blokes are, and I’m not getting paid anywhere near enough to google every one of them, so I’ll leave that up to you.
This is the heaviest track yet, with a lot less noodling and a lot more groove style metal and a fucking literal shit tonne of double kick. Oh, and a blast beat, and then some noodling!
Let’s be honest, we weren’t going to make it through a whole track without 65 scales and a butt load of sweep picking.
What a fucking journey, a shredtastic and bombastic one even. Even if this is not your thing, which it really isn’t mine, I’d suggest you give this bombastic journey at least one try. I’ll almost guarantee you’ll enjoy it just for its intense and relentless show of bombastic musical talent.
Sorry, I’ll stop now …
DISCLAIMER: Heavy Mag, or I personally, do not guarantee anything I say. Heavy Mag may even disclaim me for some of the shit I say. Like Bombastic for example…
