Gigan

The Order Of The False Eye
Napalm Records

This Tampa Bay trio has released an impressive and incredibly brutal avant garde/experimental metal album that lays waste to many of their peers. Gigan, (whose name was derived from the Godzilla movie franchise) create a multi-level metal landscape that will draw comparisons to Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah and even Rage Against The Machine. Conventional riffing and standard song settings are thrown out the window as time signatures change in the blink of an eye, frenzied single note lines whiz by over tri-tones and diminished chord structures, all glued together with jackhammer drumming, thundering bass, and monstrous death metal vocals from the darkest corners of hades.

But wait, there's more. Within this metal mayhem are strange noises, feedback loops and a impressive use of guitar hardware, and outboard effects. Check out how they use a toggle switch to create a rthythmic effect by flipping it back and forth on "Occult Rites Of the Uumpluuy, or the first two minutes of noise and weird samples on "Hiding Behind The House Of Mirrors". There's even an untitled twenty minute epic of sonic destruction that sounds like the soundtrack to Forbidden Planet on acid. Gigan not only create a maelstrom of guitar chaos, but they can hang with electronic/noise artists such as Converter, Winterkalte, and Somatic Responses. The brilliance of this, is that most of the abstract sounds they make are done (as far as I can tell) primarily with guitars and effects. There might be some electronics, but not that much. Gigan are truly in a class by themselves and if you desire metal that pushes boundaries and opens dimensions then join The Order Of The False Eye.

- Craig Harvey