Kong - Mute Poet Vocalizer
Review: Capturing the unexpected requires a balancing that which is known to communicate with that which might provide an alternate perspective, a process undertaken by Kong in a fusion of metal and progressive rock that on this album crowns itself with a resolution between the chaotic and the incremental. While most use "chaotic" to mean frenetic and noisy, in this case a narrow harmonic and rhythmic channel is provided through which offtime and abrupt introductions of often tangential melodies creates, as in jazz, an atmosphere where the contrarian impulse is expected and thus consistent structure appears divinely inspired. Using a midrange guitar sound like that of Enslaved, the quirky compositions on this album begin a process of deviation from pattern and through layers of instrumentation, bring it into a consistent form; vocals are nearly non-existent, and percussion operates either in "jazz mode" of attempting to battle its way to opposing viewpoints, or an ambient style of gradually layering itself in serial, stacking beats around a tempo. Songs adroitly switch between verse and chorus patterns in the midst of interlocking chord processions, creating a sensation of discovery as order is restored. Most riffs are lead single-note picking or a wash of different chord forms, adulterating reliance on the standard metal power chord.
Lead guitars stitch among the chords with a gratifying absence of fireworks except to culminate each portion of the solo, relying instead on alert variation of tempo within a fast-picked, high-sustain style. While this album offers one of the most unusual forms of metal possible, its desire for randomness in a structuralist genre often leads it too far into attempts to "be different," selecting what seems unlikely and making it the likely. This in turn adulterates some of the songwriting capacity shown in majestic choruses and carefully-fashioned roundabouts, depriving us perhaps of what might accelerate this album from a well-done curiosity to a great of the genre, regardless of its overall sound.