Botanist "Ecosystem" <REVIEW>

“… it creates an interesting wall of sound that’s undeniable and can perk up any avant-garde fans ears.”

When you think of something called “Green Metal”, one can’t be sure what to expect. I for one had no idea when I first opened up this band’s biography. “Green Metal”… it sounds like something Shrek would coin something that has layers.

We have a band called “Botanist”, an Avant-garde Black Metal, er, sorry… Green Metal outfit from somewhere in the lands of Greenville… I don’t know, my dealer won’t tell me where he got this from. But there’s more to this to dig off the surface. For example, all of their songs are from the perspective of a character called “The botanist”, a crazed man of science who lives in self-imposed exile. The guy is a nature lover of the highest order, and knows that after humanity is extinguished, nature will bounce back and reclaim the world. So basically this is that whole Greta Thunberg metal meme, but it’s an actual thing. but much like a good tootsie pop, there’s always more below the surface. What can we dig into of this band from their most recent album “Ecosystem”? Does mother nature herself approve? Well, let’s not waste too much time, let’s get straight into it.

Botanist drummer “Daterus” in the band’s natural habitat.

When the first track opens the album with a nylon string guitar, I immediately got the feeling that this takes inspiration from Black Metal, but that there’s something off about it. Nothing bad, more like it’s something familiar yet different at the same time. Those nylon strings feel like they’re just a portion of the song, and that they’re gonna switch to crazy distortion with bucket loads of cave reverb in a few seconds. There’s a fake out with a droning synth note… then the nylons come back with loud bombastic blast beats and that’s when I jolted and realized “Oh, okay this isn’t what I was expecting!” That first track set the tone for the rest of the album, and given the fact they’re using live drums and little nylon strings that they didn’t record their band practice with a tape recorder. Even more of a relief that goats weren’t harmed in the making of this album.

As the album continues, that initial shock starts to die down, like watching an action movie that uses the same “shocking” death over and over again. During my listen, I began to realize how much this all blended together over time. It’s not to the point of drone metal, but whilst listening, I began to lose track of what track I was on, and certain tracks sounded similar to others the more I began to listen. I began to feel like I was listening to the same song on repeat, and nearly gave myself a heart attack when learning that I was on Track 6. You can imagine my face making that revelation.

Unlike my experience with Lindsay Schoolcraft’s “Martyr”, when I can’t think of something to say about a song here, it’s because there’s not a lot to add. And that’s kind of the weird thing about this album, I didn’t hate the damn thing, I’m actually enjoying myself. But the album kind of blends together overtime. Which is great for creating an atmosphere, and that was the case with this album, but as someone trying to pick it apart and give something to talk about it doesn’t do that. That being said, as far as Black Metal goes, this is probably as unique as it gets. Distortion has been replaced with instruments that require very little energy to produce, which goes hand in hand with the “green metal” concept they’re trying to create. And given the fact that these instruments are still being played with a black metal mentality in mind, it creates an interesting wall of sound that’s undeniable and can perk up any avant-garde fans ears. Overall, this is a solid record to get a hold of. Make sure you’re listening to it with “going green” in mind, or Greta will find you.

10/15

… Because the woods are an amazing place full of 10 hobos humping trees. That puts a whole new meaning to “love nature”.

Check out Botanist

• Website

• Bandcamp

• Facebook

• Twitter

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