That moment when tech metal challenges the definition of music and starts becoming noise is flirted with quite heavily on Disclosure. But the same could be said for Meshuggah, and look at them now.
Jam-packed with stylistic interchanges, vocal shifts and a multitude of instruments (including the santoor and erhu… tissue anyone?) easy listening this is not. The Haarp Machine, intent on boggling the mind with a complex assortment of rich musical textures from djent-style rhythms to Eastern melodies and soaring, spine-tingling vocals, have pulled together an album that is only really done justice when listened to on a pair of decent headphones.
For all its technical proficiency and inventiveness it will still take a lot for these UK extreme proggers to stand out against the likes of The Safety Fire and Uneven Structure. Still, the hypnotic vocal lifts, tight drumbeats and lush Eastern promise on Pleiadian Keys and the electrifying brooding menace of The Escapist Notion is like the sticker on their debut that says “Buy me, I’m ace!” A band worth haarping on about.
