Mixed feelings are within me as I write this review for
Spastic Ink's "Ink Compatible" album - the follow up to a much-acclaimed first album, "Ink Complete". I had heard great things about
Spastic Ink, mainly from within the progressive metal community where word was spreading of an outfit that deviates from the regular crop of metal 'goodness'. Naturally I was excited, and ill speak for myself when I say that after Spiral Architect's "A Sceptic's Universe" of 1993, there was something waiting to fill that void of "technical brilliance" and "progressive genius" in the year 2004.
This just DOES NOT meet that criteria, or fulfil those desires.
For the first time in my life, I have listened and fought with myself to enjoy a piece of material that I know is worthwhile and satisfying. However, this album is like a tipped scale - it is an example of what happens when we are given too much of a good thing [that "good thing" being, technical proficiency]
The album was the conception of Ron Jarzombek, who is a guitarist from the L.A scene who was formerly in the band "Watchtower". From hearing the album, one can tell that the man is clearly devoted to his work, I mean, "Ink Compatible" is an example of highly sophisticated musical writing.
Lets take for example, track one, "Aquanet". Now, throughout the album there is a common theme of computers, technology, virus' and the like and the music is constructed to mould to this theme. In his own words, Jarzombek describes the first song as "starting off with a modem dialling in, then we play it right after with notes. You could sync them up and they would match up perfectly, but they are consecutive on the cd." Furthermore is Ron's justification of the title "Aquanet" where he states "The song is titled 'Aquanet' because almost all of the tunes in the song are based on the blues [blue/aqua] scale".
Now upon reading this, I found myself in such a state of glee, because here we have a very alternative approach to writing music where songs are totally based on thematic elements. Though this concept transcends further to the level of the actual music, where track #3 "words for nerds" emphasis' the songs ideas using abrupt tempo changes, rhythmic devices and time signatures that will make you gape in awe.
.and we think this is what we want right?
No, and this is because at this level we encounter the inherent dilemma in writing music in such a form. Yes, Jarzombek is an accomplished musician who writes very interesting music, to say the least. However, his implementation of devices is pure overkill. Honestly, some of the songs [despite his assurance that the melodies are wonderful in the promo notes] are just simply unmelodic, erratic and even distracting. You find yourself listening and not even 10 bars of music will pass before a complete overhaul of the song takes place. For some people this works, but for me, structurally the songs are all over the place and are thus extremely hard to listen to and enjoy.
On the other hand, one song stands out as being an actual song, with structure and fluid motion, with not too many distractions and sudden, unnecessary changes. Track #7 "In Memory Of." is a very strange song, (not surprisingly with this album) in that it's written about computer memory [RAM] but conveyed as though the RAM is personified as an actual person who is lost. The sound is very melancholic as the vocal lines are written using a whole-tone scale, which may take some getting used to for some people. This would be an example of Jarzombek's finer craft of work - he constructs the melody using a scale not normally used in rock and metal, which tends to set a dull or numbing mood [for myself in any case] but which works particularly well in the context of the songs theme. Once again there is significant technical devices, with a few modulations in the chorus section, which in this particular case tend to work and thankfully are not too over the top.
In summary, this is a good album with a lot of time and effort placed onto it, and something I think that genuinely came from the heart's of
Spastic Ink members. However, where the album fails is in its instability. As a mild-mannered listener, I find his "devices of the alternative" to actually diminish the beauty of the songs and not actually aid in making them sound better, but rather merely emphasising the themes present throughout the album. If every song simply had just one of the dozens of tempo, time and key modulations, then we would truly be able to appreciate the subtleties of Jarzombek's work. But sadly, there is a shroud covering all this effort because we are seemingly being lost at every turn of
Spastic Ink's song structures.
Is this a good album? Yes!
Does it take precedence over any other music I currently listen to? No!
Written by
Yoni Friday, August 13, 2004
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