Murmur: s/t (Season of Mist, 1/21/14)
Murmur: “Zeta II Reticuli”
Chicago experimental-metal quartet Murmur’s “Zeta II Reticuli” comprises fuzzy, black-metal menace and obvious punk-rock energy, but toward the end of this seven-minute track, it veers into a caterwauling assault of computer-generated weirdness.
Beginning with slow, doom-metal pacing and faint strains of clean guitar, “Zeta …” gradually speeds up with drums, an ominous bass line, and far-off whisper-snarl-breathing vocalizations in the first minute. At about 1:45, everything comes to a head, and the song metastasizes into something like Kylesa meets Frodus (or something similar to a Dischord band in the ’90s), with the intensity akin to Chicago metallurgists Raise the Red Lantern. Elements of math rock, jazz fusion, and more should appeal to anyone weaned on the more “out there” heavy music of the ’90s or ’00s.
Nice!