BIOLICH

When the busted-air-hose vocals and hyper blast beats kick in, you might think you've got a handle on Long Island's BIOLICH. Then the riff gets a little melodic, in that weird, prissy way VEHEMENCE would sometimes throw something airy in. Then it gets positively acoustic, and there are clean vocals, and proggy riffs that twist and turn in on themselves, and – what the hell is going on here?

BIOLICH deal in weird, art-damaged grind that borrows equally from obscure and fruity French avant-garde metal of the mid-1990's, and from the gore-metal machinations of the DYING FETUS school of bludgeon. There's also long, trippy ambient electronic parts, occasional breakdowns that recall the "hardcore kids playing grind" aesthetic of some of the Willowtip Records bands, and an esoteric, borderline pretentious vibe that'll float the goat of anyone into CEPHALIC CARNAGE and other such lysergic grind freaks.

Keep in mind that BIOLICH's experimental side notwithstanding, they're primarily a face-ripping death metal outfit, not suitable for the weak-minded, sensitive, or frilly-shirted. And if all you wanna do is stomp around to INTERNAL BLEEDING riffs and beat your friends senseless (not that there's anything wrong with that),their progressive side is gonna annoy the piss out of you (I could personally do without seven-minute electrodrone track "Ikon Sumo").

Those who seek out acts on the fringe, though, will be way into "The Space Between Home and Today". They take the convoluted grind of their oft-name-dropped namesakes DEMILICH (themselves a band worth discovering, for all you young whippersnappers who think metal began in 1998) and expand it into uncharted, limitless terrain. It doesn't always work, but damn, talk about ambition! Support BIOLICH and you're investing in the future of metal.