Sometimes it's hard to realize just how integrated music is in our social structure. As a teenager I used music as a social tool as much as, if not more than, a means of escape or entertainment. Now, with iPods, mix CDs and playlists invading popular culture, music has been sectionalized and put into cliques, but also cracked open more than ever. I'm sure the casual TMT reader is as comfortable listening to John Coltrane as Antony and the Johnsons. But for any hardcore enthusiast, there is usually a certain pride to their fanaticism. Artists begin to fly under the same mental banners, and sites like ours will proudly pillage trendy genres for obscurities. I know when I have a hankering for a certain type of music, I'll go to great lengths to find out everything I can about it, and then annoyingly try to spread the gospel. I've also avoided genres like the plague before, based on a few sour grapes. It all has to do with the social function of music. Sometimes, though, you witness or hear something completely outside your sphere of influence that demands attention, regardless of preference. When I heard Spawn of Possession, it absolutely demanded my attention. Part of the appeal, personally, was that I hadn't listened to speed metal for many, many years. Again, I had written the genre off, which is utterly ridiculous, considering my love for the more trendy doom metal subgenre.
Needless to say, listening to Spawn of Possession reminded me of the sheer wealth of quality, relevant music being produced, yet being heard only by a select group of ears. Apparently quite a renaissance has been occurring in the 'technically brutal' metal sub genre. I don't feel ridiculous dropping that term either; it's way too appropriate. Noctambulant is indeed a brutal, hilariously technical album. It's also relatively lean (for speed metal) and compositionally grounded. Yes, there are insane, sweeping guitar solos and more measures of double kick than the last generation of metal heads could handle, but form and structure are never mere side thoughts. Clocking in at just over 40 minutes, Noctambulant represents so much of its genre in a very tight package. It's kind of funny to consider that this sort of metal is viewed as utter wankery by most music circles. Funny, because on the surface it's a fairly accurate assessment. But listening to Spawn of Possession, you begin to realize that speed metal isn't going away, and that, even if you refuse to admit it, this stuff does carry the torch of classical harmonic sensibility. There's metal barking, of course, and completely modern song structures, but when the guitars start harmonizing in 32nd note unison, well... who else is pulling that shit out? I won't go into further detail about the songs, because most of you probably know exactly what this sort of metal sounds like. Admittedly, nothing truly new is being achieved here, except possibly a heightened bar of technicality, but let it suffice to say that Spawn of Possession deserve to be heard. They encapsulate a fairly popular type of music that is regularly disregarded as sterile and overly studious. At the very least, if you need a metal album to boost your iPod credibility, let it be Noctambulant.
1. Inception
2. Lash by Lash
3. Solemn they Await
4. Render My Prey
5. Eve of Contempt
6. Sour Flow
7. By a Thousand Deaths Fulfilled
8. Dead and Grotesque
9. In My Own Greed
10. Scorched