Indricothere

Myspace:www.myspace.com/indricothere

Reviewed by Hartman.

Indricothere is a solo project from Queens, NY musician and engineer Colin Marston. You may have heard of him from his numerous projects including BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS, DYSRYTHMIA, BYLA, KRALLICE and INFIDEL CASTRO. Colin primarily plays bass or Warr guitar in his other bands; the Warr guitar is an interesting instrument that is much like a Chapman stick and is designed for tapping techniques but can also be played with a pick. INDRICOTHERE is all Colin's own so his broad duties include guitar, Warr guitar, keyboard and drum programming , and the album itself is older material that he wrote before forming BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS but was not mixed until 2007.

The songs on this debut are in his trademark Progressive instrumental Metal style but there's a more "technical death metal" influence throughout than in his other projects. Comparisons can be made to DEATH, CYNIC, ATHEIST, WATCHTOWER and even NAPALM DEATH at moments, such as the album's opening riff on the song "2". There's also some Black Metal, Noise and Grind for good measure. The riffs change quickly and seamlessly, rarely repeating themselves more than a couple of times but still the riffs are catchy, original and somehow memorable throughout the cacophony. The album's closing track entitled "3" concludes the album dramatically, highlighting the most dynamics on the record and ending with a droning black noise collage. Colin programmed the drums, which lends an interesting feel and adds to the uniqueness of the album through beats that are filled with plenty of odd time signatures to fittingly compliment.

Colin has his own recording studio, the Thousand Caves, where he did all the engineering and production on the album, giving it a very clean and separated sound so all the intricacies can be discerned. The record plays out just under thirty minutes, a perfect length for any release so it can be digested properly and listened to often. Remember "Reign In Blood" if you disagree. INDRICOTHERE's debut is another high quality addition to Colin's rapidly expanding repertoire and a welcome release for any Progressive Death Metal fan. Let's hope Colin is not too busy with his many other projects to grace us with another INDRICOTHERE release in the future.