Masks, the fifth and latest album from Ukrainian band Viscula is a strange beast, a collection of songs that, beyond meaningless phrases like art-rock or alternative-rock, is impossible to categorize. But then, all the best music suffers such a brilliant fate.
As opener, “Frog” crunches and crashes into the listener’s consciousness, a squalling and squelching blend of incendiary guitars, liquid sonic washes, and pounding rhythms, you are put in mind of a modern-day take on the likes of Zappa. Not necessarily sonically, but certainly in terms of his mindset, a blend of artistry and adventurousness that he would have been proud of.
It isn’t until track three, “Art of Tear,” that vocals even appear, and do so as a blend of cries and howls, straightforward singing, and fist-in-the-air defiance over a grinding riff. The title track is a blend of industrial roar and strange, squelchy sounds, with claustrophobic density eventually giving way to an odd and off-kilter, and brilliantly so, country-punk playout.
“Komar (The Raid)” rounds things off in a merging of punk-abilly meets avant-garde alt-rock that the likes of The Cramps or The Gun Club would have greatly admired back in the day.
If you are bored with the current rock scene or just the musical landscape in general, there are many reasons why you might be, if you find the idea of conformity and music made for comfort zones banal, or if you think that modern music has lost its sense of adventure, then you need look no further than Viscula. Masks is the sound of a much-needed sonic revolution, a break with tradition and expectation, gathering momentum.
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