4 out of 5

Label: P2

Produced by: Colin Marston

Let’s play yet another game of me reading too much into stuff, by analyzing Behold… The Arctopus’ cover artwork progression.

The “technical metal” tag has, of course, always been present with this band, owing to their m.o. of fretboard workouts and Colin Marston’s longstanding background with hardcore acts of all intensities, but they’ve divvied up this tag and enhanced both sides in their evolving soundscapes and visuals, starting from the comparatively loose Skullgrid’s metal-first skull cover atop the gridwork which is suggestive of the music’s underlying structures, to the fittingly Walter Weasel percussioned Horrorscension, which, maybe obviously given that title, starts to bring atmosphere forward even more, and lets organics and machine-like elements combine in the beastie on the art. Cognitive Emancipation brought on the eclectic Jason Bauers for drums, and we can let that name sink in: the artwork is man ascended, moving its horror-self to an external spirit.

We arrive at Hapeleptic Overtrove, two – I believe – nonsense words that are metal as hell but do read like a scientist naming some newly discovered aspect of music; Jason Bauers is still on board but has ditched those human drum tools for their elements: wood; metal; plastic; resulting in fascinating precise, often shallow-sounding (as in the pitch) percussion. Our cover now shows the metal – the horror – is dead; beached on an alien landscape – we’re space-bound now – the techno stuff is actually growing into / with a plant.

(And I write this from a BtA future where the next evolution is robots in space playing acoustic instruments.)

On the one hand, Hapeleptic gave me the same vibes Behold always does: man, this is wanky as hell. This is dudes playing just to see how many notes they can play. I imagine some folks listening over my shoulder and rolling their eyes; I just admitted to rolling my eyes in my own way.

And while I do think that limited take does apply to some of BtA, the group is also an argument for the classical / experimental artists they claim as influences, as there’s a definite depth of composition here that goes beyond music theory flexes, allowing for b.s. analyses like the one with which I started. Hapeleptic Overtrove is the one where this really starts to become more undeniably obvious, though, as it pretty much ditches all of its outright “metal” past its 30-second intro, after which Bauers tippy-tapped blocks and the fretboard noodling are cut into precise, 2-minute chunks that feel much closer (in intensity; in repetition) to classical music buildups, lacking more flourished pageantry that would demark this as truly wanky prog shit. (Which, y’know, I also love, but I digress…)

It’s not all “pretty,” of course, as angularity is still a driving factor, and it’s not like the guitar is minused of distortion, so it can still sound like metal from afar. You’ll also note the track times start to lengthen by the end of the A-side, which pays off well there – the previous cuts are somewhat warmups to its grandness – but the B-side feels a bit more back on the wanky side of things, with tracks going in for a 3rd or 4th round or coda that feels unnecessary (though props to Perverse. Esoteric. Different. for best song title).

Excepting a final coda, we close with ‘Hapeleptic Perspective Respect,’ with rather summarizes and puts a final, concise stamp on the album – well-named, and steps between the technical stop-and-go of BtA, some atmopsherics, and Dysrhythmia like melodious metal.