BLACK BILE

With the accompanying press sheet stating that the band's name derives from "the Greek word for melancholy, melas (black) kholé (bile). According to the then prevalent medical theory of the four humours, an excess of black bile in a person caused the person to become melancholic", one can half-predict what to expect from the tone of this album. Certainly, there is a melancholic feel to the music throughout with overtones of Katatonia in terms of both songwriting and delivery. However, what one cannot perhaps predict is the diversity that colours the melancholic foundation within each of the songs, for here we also have elements of industrial; post-thrash palm-muted riffing; and Pink Floyd style dynamics. And that's just for starters. Second track 'Valerian' climaxes with an Angelo Badalamenti sounding ambience which segues into 'Light That Failed', a song that is what a jam between Floyd and The Beatles would maybe have resulted in. Just as the album settles down into its mid-paced melancholic groove with 'Infection', you're hit with the full-on, up-tempo hardcore/death fury of 'Divorced with the World', but only for a minute and a half before it meanders through further disparate soundscapes. Get the pattern? 'Great Ape Language' twists and turns with engaging unpredictability as it weaves a multifarious musical tapestry that is as accessible as it is diverse. The man responsible for this work of refreshing sonic heterogeneity is prolific Finnish musical auteur Henri Kuittinen who composed all the music on the album, and also performed vocals, guitars and programming. Kuittinen is a name unknown to me previously, although I sing his praises for producing a record that is not only progressive in terms of what's gone before, but also progressive within itself. I'll add to that progression that doesn't sound in any way contrived, stilted or forced. Musically sublime.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Sakara Records

Album

GREAT APE LANGUAGE

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

56:23

RELEASE DATE:

3rd Nov 2008

TRACK LISTING

1) Earth Will Rise
2) Valerian
3) Light That Failed
4) Infection
5) Divorced With The World
6) Emily
7) Half
8) Mute
9) Monochrome
10) Worst Case Scenario
11) Slumber

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Finland

"'...not only progressive in terms of what's gone before, but also progressive within itself."