(Andy Synn gives his first impressions of the opening track from Gigan‘s upcoming new album, which we are premiering below in advance of the album’s October 25 release by Willowtip Records.)
If you’re not familiar with the extra-dimensional extremity of Chicago’s Gigan then you might want to check out both my Synn Report on the band from way back in 2016 and my review of their fourth album, Undulating Waves of Rainbiotic Iridescence, from 2017 (which was the last time we heard from them).
Trust me, you’ll want to be fully prepared for what you’re about to experience.
Because going into this one blind could well be hazardous to your health.
As I’m sure you’re aware – having definitely done the recommended reading/listening above, right? – Gigan are not, and have never been, what you might consider a “normal” Death Metal band.
Maybe it’s because guitarist Eric Hersemann is a lefty (which immediately marks him as somewhat… sinister), or perhaps they were accidentally exposed to a mysterious artefact of unknown origin as a child (it happens more often than you might think) but the band have never been afraid of going out there with their music.
So it’s not really surprising, based on what little we’ve heard from it so far, that Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus might just go even further then ever before.
Just take the album’s opening track, the tongue-twistingly titled “Trans-Dimensional Crossing of the Alta-Tenuis“, which we’re premiering exclusively today.
At first it almost seems like it’s trying to throw you off the scent, the song’s surprisingly slow-burning intro providing an unexpectedly spacious and atmospheric canvas – characterised by undulating layers of guitars which strike a precarious balance between melody and dissonance – where drummer Nathan Cotton can show off his impressively creative, attention-grabbing percussive prowess.
It is, of course, all a cleverly calculated ruse – Gigan clearly know exactly what you’re expecting, and refuse to give it to you (yet) – which allows the tension to build and brew until it’s almost boiling over… at which point the song absolutely erupts in a punishing, pyroclastic torrent of abrasive technicality and barely-controlled brutality (with vocalist Jerry Kavouriaris putting in a suitably ugly and unhinged performance to match behind the mic).
Even so, for all their eye-popping instrumental intensity, it’s safe to say that the band till haven’t entirely lost – or abandoned – the plot at this point, and there’s nothing here that, say, a committed fan of the likes of Wormed or Artificial Brain should have too much trouble with (even if Gigan‘s particular/peculiar approach still has more than a hint of psilocybic strangeness to it).
But then you hit the last third… a turn signalled by an unexpectedly melodic, almost Mithras-esque, ear-worm solo… and the song transforms into its final, most ferocious form, embracing an almost Mathcore-ish madness whose contradictorily chaotic precision and paradoxically precise insanity are more reminiscent of bands like Car Bomb and Fawn Limbs than anything from the Brutal/Technical end of the Death Metal spectrum.
Thankfully, however, just when things are about to get a little too much (or, maybe, just at the right moment after that point) the band make a sharp, whiplash-inducing shift back towards more disgustingly deathly sonic realms, ending things with brutish burst of monstrous chuggery and murderously guttural gurgles that, together, reinforce the fact that while Gigan are may be willing to give you what you want, it’s always going to be in a form – and at a time – of their own choosing.
Whether you like it or not.
Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus is available to pre-order now over at the group’s official Bandcamp page, where you can also stream the other advance track that’s already been released, “Erratic Pulsitivity and Horror”.