Over the last few days I saw two pieces of art that caught my attention, in part because the art is great and in part because both pieces relate to Mitochondrion, whose music has left wounds all over me that won’t heal.
The artwork above was created by Jeremy Hannigan (who’s also the vocalist of the doom band Funeral Circle). He created it for a new double-LP version of Mitochondrion’s 2008 debut album, Archaeaeon, which will be released by Dark Descent Records. According to the band, this special vinyl release will include the full lyrics in proper order, song descriptions, lyrical meanings, and a brief history of the album.
Archaeaeon was originally self-released by the band, but Dark Descent picked it up last August for re-issue as a CD, following a re-master of the music by Colin Marston (Krallice, Dysrhythmia, Behold… The Arctopus), and now we’ll have the vinyl. Of course, I still don’t own a turntable, but I think just about any news concerning Mitochondrion is worth repeating, perhaps especially when the news concerns Archaeaeon.
I first discovered Mitochondrion through their second album, Parasignosis, which got a Profound Lore release in January of last year. It blew my shit away, to put it mildly. I came to Archaeaeon much later, and found it equally compelling, though different in some respects from Parasignosis. (more after the jump, including the second piece of art and Mitochondrion music . . .)
Mitochondrion’s music is often labeled “war metal” (definitely not to be confused with pagan “battle metal”), and I can understand why. The frequently martial air of the drumming (and even the riffing) is part of the explanation, but the music also captures what I imagine to be the chaos and frightening destruction of a brutally mechanized battlefield. They have taken death metal to places where it has rarely been — unusually violent, ugly places.
As I perceive it, Mitochondrion is 100% devoted to the creation of atmosphere. On Archaeaeon, they created utterly riveting and viscerally powerful atmospheres in two ways. Predominantly, they generated an explosive sense of utter destruction through blast waves of highly distorted roaring noise. The harrowing quality of these passages was enhanced through a kind of call-and-response exchange between two vocalists — one with a frighteningly massive roar, as deep as oceanic trenches, and the other who sounded like a soldier undergoing a battlefield amputation without anesthesia.
Yet a different kind of atmosphere was created through unexpected interludes of relative calm drenched with ambient, yet no less ominous, melodies.
As amazing as Archaeaeon was, Parasignosis was at least its equal, and I think most listeners would say its superior. There is nothing on the album that’s less than utterly riveting. It was one of the most viscerally powerful albums released in 2011. Again, the music was devoted to the creation of a vividly hellish atmosphere. Once again, the massively distorted riffs were monstrous in their brutality. And once again, the fantastically varied and consistently superb drumming of Karl Godard provided an essential backbone.
But this time, those moments of less caustic, more melodic atmosphere were fewer and farther between, and the horrifying shrieks of the vocal tandem in Archaeaeon were largely missing, yielding the field almost entirely to the gruesome roaring of Shawn Hache. The music is also more noticeably technical and experimental, employing freaked out guitar runs, shuddering/shrieking swaths of feedback, and changing rhythmic landscapes. The music is a kind of progressive death metal, but not as it’s usually perceived. It needs a new name, something like “apocalyptic prog”.
Well, enough about the music for the moment — on to the second piece of artwork I saw:
This is a striking poster created by Vancouver artist Sean Coggins for a one-time show on April 28 at the Rickshaw Theater in Mitochondrion’s home base of Vancouver. Apart from the fact that the artwork is badass, what really jumped out at me is that Mitochondrion will be playing with fellow Canadians Antediluvian. To quote from my November review of that band’s 2011 album, Through the Cervix of Hawaah:
“There is a certain style of death metal that I think of, in shorthand fashion, as horrifyingly avant-garde. Some people might prefer the term “progressive”, but I don’t think that word captures the atmosphere of cold, terrifying, otherworldly abomination conveyed by the music. Among current practitioners of this style of death metal, Portal, Mitochondrion, and Dragged Into Sunlight usually come to mind first. Now, I have to add Antediluvian to that list.”
As practitioners of the art of creating inhuman atmospheres of dread and catastrophe, Antediluvian has already made a huge impression. The idea of seeing them together with Mitochondrion is almost irresistible, though one would have to think carefully about the combined effect of that duo on one’s sanity. It will be world-class skull-fucking.
Back to the music. Since Mitochondrion is weighing heavy on my mind today and opening up old scars, here are two tracks. The first is one of my favorites from Archaeaeon. The second is the title track from Parasignosis.
“Wraithlike”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/08-Wraithlike.mp3|titles=Mitochondrion – Wraithlike]“Parasignosis”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/06-Parasignosis.mp3|titles=Mitochondrion – Parasignosis]26 Responses to “EYE-CATCHERS: MITOCHONDRION”
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Much to the chagrin of elitists and genrephobes, I like to refer to bands like Portal, Mitochondrion, and Ulcerate as post-death metal. I like apocalyptic prog though.
I like “post-death metal”. It captures the idea that those bands are taking the genre to another place.
One does share that view about Mitochondrion, Ulcerate and Portal (to some extent).
But, what’s “Apocalyptic Prog” supposed to be? One vaguely remembers reading it on your blog sometime, but one can’t remember any band to associate with that label…
I think he was quoting from my post — unless HBIH also used that term somewhere.
Huh. Well… One’s memory isn’t what it used to be then – reading something, forgetting it within a minute, and remembering having read it a year ago. 😐
I did do a post on “post-death metal” last year!
That you did, sir. But, you posted no post mentioning Apocalyptic Prog.
Also, having forgotten the content of this post above, one thought you were talking about two different genres in your first comment here. :s
I saw Mitochondrion in a basement show back in October, and they absolutely blew me away. Islander (and anyone else), if you’re able to make the trip up here for the April 28th show, do it! It’s going to be a legendary show!
These “post” or “atmospheric” death metal bands put out some of the best metal releases of last year. Mitochondrion’s was the best but Baring Teeth’s was up there for me as well.
Baring Teeth do have that “atmospheric death metal” sound. Not as technical or intense as Ulcerate or Mitochondrion. But, quite interesting nonetheless.
Oddly enough I just received this cd in the mail today 🙂
Further proof, as if any were needed, that I am physic. Er, sickic. Uh, psychic. Yeah, that’s it — psychic.
Also, if you bought a lottery ticket today, I’m getting etherial emanations that tell me you won’t win.
I think that Teitanblood is in a similar area atmospherically. Thanks for posting the archaeon track, I also had only heard the new record, definitely a favorite from last year.
That you for the recommendation of Teitanblood. I will definitely track down their music. As for Archaeaeon, I really do think it’s every bit as strong as Parasignosis. Some days I like it even more.
So, it’s war metal you want, eh? Well then…
Blasphemophager, Wrathprayer, Diocletian, Prosanctus Inferi, and Nuclearhammer are bands I’d recommend. They all are similar to Mito in one way or another. Some are more black, some are more death, but they all have that mindfucking evil quality to them.
I did a little feature on Wrathprayer here (though based on only one song):
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2012/01/01/metal-elitism/
And i remember Blasphemophagher from Tr00 Nate’s Best of 2011 list. But man, I’ve got some head-wrcking ahead of me. Thanks!
Have you tried these guys? http://deathmetalbaboon.com/abyssal
I can’t get the link to work right now, but I will try again later. Abyssal rings a bell, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard their music.
Well, here’s a link that works. They were also featured on The Living Doorway recently (where one heard of them).
Thankee kindly.
Free download for Abyssal on Bandcamp. http://abyssal-home.bandcamp.com/
Doing that now . . . Thanks.
I recently got a turntable, so I think I’ll pick that vinyl up when it comes out. Another band I’ve got on the same playlist as those others is Witchrist and their album Beheaded Ouroboros, which is not as frantic as the other bads listed but definitely worth a look, at the very least the band, album, and song titles are all totally epic.
I like what little I’ve heard from Witchrist. Need to dig deeper. Also, as SurgicalBrute reported in this post, it looks like they’ve got a new album coming in 2012:
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2012/01/30/underground-metal-for-the-trve-curmudgeon-whats-new-for-2012/
Yeeeaahhhh! I like this. I am ordering one of their albums.
All this talk of bestial black metal and no one mentions Morbosidad or Proclamation?