Most of the time when we ask you to listen to something it’s because we think it’s good, that it deserves more listens, and that you might enjoy it. Today I’m not sure if this is good or if you’re going to like it, but it’s certainly different and probably worth a listen – for curiosity’s sake if nothing more. Hanormale is a little known Italian black metal band and in January they released Reborn in Butterfly, a 70+ minute long record that starts with a black metal/industrial cover of the Twin Peaks theme song and proceeds to really go some places. What kind of places, you may ask? Let’s find out after the jump.
You want some black metal? Check. Trudging doom metal with demonic vocals and eerie synths? Check. Amazing track names like “Satan Is a Status Symbol” and “Ghettoblaster BlackMetal”? Check. 10+ minute spoken word that goes nowhere? Check. Incredible piano-driven jazz with splashes of sax and occasional interruptions of abrasive black metal vocals? You guessed it – check. I don’t know what they were going for here, but if any of that sounds mildly interesting, and it should, then give this a spin because you’re unlikely to hear anything else quite like it for the rest of 2019.
Let it be known – there are certainly faults with this record. Firstly, 70+ minutes is simply too long, particularly when 10+ minutes is devoted to an ambient spoken word track. Secondly, and this may come as no surprise given what you’ve read thus far, the component pieces of the record don’t quite fit neatly together. There are a litany of abrupt transitions between lounge jazz and black metal, whilst a moody bar-room croon is interspersed with typical black metal vocals in an unpredictable manner.
However, maybe the pieces aren’t intended to fit. Maybe the pieces themselves are enough – because a lot of the time they’re damned good. The jazz isn’t there for gimmick’s sake. It’s well executed, the piano heartfelt, the sax and strings engaging, and you can see the potential behind this genre concoction. The black metal is as vicious as one would hope, tremolos blazing and eerie synths adding an industrial vibe to the soundscape in this strange melting pot of a record. It may not be cohesive, but it’s a journey all right and one thing’s for sure: like it or not, you should give it a listen.
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Reborn in Butterfly is available now via Dusktone.