Behold... the Arctopus - Skullgrid

Behold..the Arctopus. Skullgrind. 2007. 4.5 stars.

Skullgrind is a maddeningly technical metal album that embraces mathematical riffs and progressive rhythms. As a completely instrumental work, Skullgrind’s complexity is powerful and enveloping. Genres bleed into each other as the band burns through their spiraling structures, with spastic touches of jazz, doom, and progressive metal coming through. The whole experience is hypnotic and exciting, with incredibly intricate solos and shifting time signatures ripping through your perceptual faculties.

Such a calculated sound may initially seem cold, detached and emotionless, but the fervor in which it is performed is convincing proof of life. From the percussive rolls to the wiry guitar lines, Behold…the Arctopus is all about intensity, even if it is filtered through a mechanistic prism. Like the cover art demonstrates, Skullgrind is about the fusion between the organic and the technological, an aesthetic not unlike the grim artwork of HR Giger or the post-human visions of late 90’s science fiction. With these thematic touches, the searing technicality of this record is less intimating as it is intoxicating.

Behold…the Arctopus may sound inhuman, but it is certainly an effective progressive-metal project. It successfully weaves free-form techniques from jazz and avant-garde traditions with arty futurism and insane precision. Like a delirious scribing from some idiot-savant, Skullgrind is undoubtedly impressive despite its uncanny nature. A celebration of all things cybernetic and hyperactive, this release confirms the vitality of progressive-metal as it slithers its way out of the underground.

Behold…The Arctopus-Skullgrid/Canada

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