Genre: Jazz-Metal
Released by:Relapse Records
Release date:September 30, 2016
Tracklist
1. Kingda Ka
2. Fruitcake
3. Cosmic Warriors Girth Curse
4. Hand of God
5. Gassed
6. The Spoiler
7. Sleestack Lightning
8. The Sadist
9. Fata Morgana
10. Peace In War
11. Palantine
Line-Up:
Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Bloodiest, etc) – horns, voice, electric piano and synth
Dave Witte (Discordance Axis, Municipal Waste, etc) – drums
Aaron Dallison (Keelhaul) – bass, voice, and synth.
Pardon the language, but if you are interested in an absolute fucked up musical journey, then you MUST check out Brain Tentacles s/t debut. It isn’t the most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard, but it is pretty out there, and on top of that it’s quite enjoyable.
Brain Tentacles is the warped creation of heavy metal jazz from the minds of bands like Yakuza, Municipal Waste and Keelhaul. The trio of drums, bass, and horns (plus some keyboard stuff) create a cacophonous sound that is the direct descendant of music created during the Captain Beefheart days in Frank Zappa (listen to “Debra Cadabra” and tell me otherwise.) Where some bands take the Avant garde jazz fusion and metal mix into places only the brave of heart can handle (like Melt Banana,) Brain Tentacles takes their sound to the very limits, but are able to hold some restraint and keep it at least mostly musical. Where a band like Trioscapes melds the two oddly compatible styles easily and more straight forward, Brain Tentacles opts to go for a more controlled chaos sound, making it a definite split of the two with heavy metal drum patterns, driving bass lines, and discordant sax notations.
This album isn’t for everyone. There were times it wasn’t for me, especially the longer songs where it seemed to linger too long. The shorter tracks offered much more for me because I felt they had more to say ironically. My love of Zappa I feel like enabled me to appreciate this album more than I probably should have. I’m not going to say that I loved it, but obviously I liked it enough to say something about it.
Reviewer: Chris Martin
Rating: 7/10
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