3 out of 5

Label: Vollmer Industries, Day Off Records, I Dischi del Minollo, Araki Records, The Fucking Clinica, Entes Anomicos Records

Produced by: Salvatore Aricò

Had you handed me Bezoar’s record, full of tracks like Grumvalski è morto di freddo or Anxiety Tutorial – instrumental metal that jumps the gambit from hardcore math to ambient noise – I’d be sold. Heck: I am sold. Bezoar’s self-titled is a great listen, produced by bandmember Salvatore Aricò with an up-front, gutsy clarity that reminds of latter day Zu.

And while I’m not unsold by the following, I do feel ultimately a bit conflicted after listening to opening tracks Scumm GPT and Waag… because these are something completely new; completely nutso and Big in ways it’s rarer and rarer to hear in this scene. Instrumental metal has had a billion and one entries added to its stable over the past couple decades, and it’s hard to make something without connecting the dots to Don Caballero or Pelican or etc. That’s here as well: the majority of ‘Bezoar’ nibbles at those early Don Cab records (the all-bravado For Respect; some of the ear-splitting deconstruction on 2), swills it with the breakneck metal of Keelhaul, stirs in some Turing Machine kraut, and then sprinkles with Red Sparowes‘ pretty pluckings – and / or other references that are relevant to your collection. The tracks are expertly played, and even – if the title is to be believed – an improv track manages to maintains an impressive sense of structure, and a solid sturm and drang groove.

But – I return to those openers. There we find Bezoar using more of a spazz-rock structure (Microwaves, Daughters) but somehow also keeping the pacing appropriate for a 3-5 minute song, meaning we neither get overloaded with volume or feel like there’s any unnecessary buffer. These are songs that hit hard from go and keep ante-ing up, while also having an internal ebb and flow. The tracks are also more aggressive in their sub-genre blending, swinging from that spazzy stuff to spacey reverb to stoner jams, and still maintaining a consistent framework.

So we’re damned by comparison. A whole album of Anxiety Tutorials would be great: such tracks trade in familiarity but do it exceedingly well. However, a partial album preceded by some genre-bursting stuff unfortunately feels less impressive. And yet is obviously still awesome, and well worth your time.