Avant-garde metal, post-hardcore, industrial metal, digital hardcore, cybergrind, breakcore, post-industrial, sound collage, brostep, progressive electronic, metalcore, post-metal, mathcore, ambient, shoegaze, new age, bitpop, IDM, complextro, and glitch. What do every single one of these genres have in common? Aside from being relevant descriptors for precettö's newest full-length, Siddhartha 2, absolutely zilch. Sure, bitpop and glitch share similar sonic characteristics, and metalcore and mathcore draw from sources of close proximity, but when this heterogeneous clump of influences collide in such a concise record, what the hell even happens?
Jessie Edwards (Drella, DJ DRELLA) is an Australian teenager immersed in the Brony and Y2K aesthetics. They're Frutiger Aero-esque style started with the first Siddhartha album, and its continuation on its prequel is stronger than ever. Edwards' website appears untouched by the advancements of the internet: visually overwhelming colors, rotating art cubes, and a sense of nostalgia for a time when they were barely alive. Take it from me–I'm only a year older. What really ties the site together is a winged My Little Pony with pixel sunglasses. How kitschy can one be? They explicitly claim in their Bandcamp bio that they "don't play prog metal." In that case, they play every other style of music, ever, simultaneously.
It feels like it, too. Sonically, I'm intrigued, but also annoyed. Fascinated, yet completely turned off. All the accoutrements needed to pull off an album of this dynamism come included, like batteries with an original Game Boy. Edwards is fully responsible for each instrument, sample, screech, and act of fuckery on their recordings. It's astoundingly impressive, even if the result is downright bonkers. Each song on Siddhartha 2 withstands many segments, so my post-listening notes resembled psychopathic scribbles more than points to talk about.
Take the third track, "Angel Flight Flurry," The longest of the album, and in only six minutes, I'm ripped through hypnotizing electronica beats, metalcore riffing, and 400 other concepts. Try "Spellbinding Heart Attack" for a "straightforward" electronic/blast-beat combo. The best song, however, is "10 Zombie-Sized Chickens vs Wii Mini," which includes some sublime post-metal tremolo riffing. Elsewhere, there's solo piano, bird sounds... honestly, attempting to explain every minute detail of Siddhartha 2 is an insult to the project.
But really, though: what's the point? The entertaining aspect is that there's likely no point, and that's probably the point. The Brony scene, in its puzzlingly expanding domain, continues to be a treasure trove of experimentation. This record is another to add to it. It's a lovable mess of electronic and metal, and that's exactly why you should listen to precettö!