Reviews : Albums : Giant Squid, "Metridium Field"

So I saw "The Perfect Storm" back in 2000. I was hungover, hadn't eaten anything all day and was just unfortunate enough to have to take a front row seat in the packed-to-capacity theater. I made it a good hour and forty-five minutes through the film, but eventually those giant rogue waves (or was it Marky Mark's acting?) were too much for me. They actually made me seasick -- swooping over my tensely craned neck and throbbing skull. I had to take a trip out to the men's room to regain my legs, land lubber that I am.

Anyway, just as the fate of those fishermen loomed for an insufferable amount of time, Giant Squid toys with the listener. But instead of towering walls of death at the surface, here we get deep sea dementia. Mysterious passages of wavering fuzz guitar and vintage keyboard pass over swells of brooding male/female vocals. Sometimes all is well after six minutes. Sometimes not. The pressure of Giant Squid's denser material just builds and builds. It never fully implodes, but that's where the fun lies. Each of the six songs (two other tracks are short ambient bridges) is like a tentacle. It probes. Caresses. Latches on. Strangles. Pulls you further in to the darkness.

It's not quite metal, but it is plenty deep, heavy and strange. It straddles a line between ambient noise-rock (Mogwai) and dirgey art metal (Neurosis). I'm more partial to the band's louder moments -- "Neonate" and "Revolution In The Water" in particular. "Versus The Siren" is probably the best representation of the band's mastery of mood. Weird aquatic beauty gives way to predatory lashing which dives down to a dark, cold, sleepy ambience. This taking place over a span of nearly 10 minutes. Pretty much an average song length for the band.

Get this if you like long slimy slabs of meaty sea arms. Pass if you're more into bite-sized unagi.

Standout Tracks    Neonate    Versus The Siren    Revolution In The Water

Keefe