FURZE

Word on the street is that FURZE's "Reaper Subconscious Guide" is the latest hipper-than-thou black-metal-that's-not-exactly-black metal recording and has been showered with golden praise in critical circles. Is that the truth as we know it? The truth is that "Reaper Subconscious Guide" grabbed hold and shook me with some force when I first came across it a couple of months ago. It did seem deserving of some degree of praise due to its status as different, experimental black metal threaded with stoned-out tendencies, doomy runs, and just plain weirdness. But then the novelty began to wear off and I'm left with an album that is satisfying given just the right mood, even adventurous, but the overall vibe doesn't click with enough consistency to make it a long-hauler.

When it comes right down to it, the clicking is the important part. Still pretty good stuff though and one-man-band Woe J. Reaper is to be applauded for the direction he's steered this vehicle. Six songs across 44 minutes allow lots of room for movement too. Most of that movement involves shifts from trippy licks poured through a doom strainer to frenetic tempos with polka-beat mania and guitars that jangle as much as those reappearing bells chime. Clean strumming and nut-case cadences, raspy/spooky vocals that sit off in the distance create an aura of bizarreness, as well as depressive moods that are just shy of suicidal. In other words, it holds at least a pint's worth of intrigue for the listener. It works well from "Earlier than the Third Might of the Cosmos" up through "Immortal Lecture", which features a series of smart transitions, but begins to drag on "The Bonedrum" and reaches the realm of endurance-test through much of the 13 minutes of "Essential Wait".

In the way of summation then, the clicks heard with some clarity during the first half become barely audible later on. "Reaper Subconscious Guide" is indeed left of sane in a way that is usually inviting. It is also solid on several fronts. But it doesn't make me giggle like a truant school girl or fall to my knees in obeisance. Suck it does not and it is better than middling. It's just not a medal winner.