Mycelia – In A Late Country
Mycelia – In A Late Country
Eclipse Records
Release Date: 16/09/22
Running Time: 56:25
Review by Dark Juan
Whatever comes after a googolplex/10
Good afternoon, my dear incubi and succubi. Or is it incubuses and succubusses? I don’t particularly care as long as you are all hale and hearty. I committed these words to the electronic ether on the day after the anniversary of my 48th trip around the sun and have discovered that 8 hours on rollercoasters near Scarborough does unusual and mildly painful things to an increasingly elderly skeletal system. As does several hours in the Schwerer Gothikpanzer on the way to Cumbria for my birthday present from the ever lovely and tolerant (of my shit) Mrs Dark Juan, which was to meet and feed a pack of arctic wolves. This was a great success, mainly because Dark Juan had to be strongly dissuaded (by the threat of violence and arrest from both Mrs Dark Juan and the wolves’ keeper) from nicking the wolf cub that took a shine to Dark Juan and submitted to much petting (done in secret otherwise my ejection from the zoo would have been immediate and unpleasant) and the rest of the wolves clustering nearby to Dark Juan when he firmly planted his arse on the floor to feed them. A wonderful time was had by all, and a word with the keeper also revealed the names of the maned wolves in the next enclosure over, who were being elusive. Mrs Dark Juan was delighted when they came at her summons, although we had no avocados to provide them with as these are the maned wolves’ favourite treat. She also tried to subvert the giant otters.
Avocados. Hipster wolves…
Today’s offering on the altar of steel is from Swiss djentmeisters Mycelia and represents the first new recording from the band since 2018’s “Apex”. It is a spectacularly complex listen that requires the person who is experiencing it to be able to follow a complicated narrative, dialogue and have some understanding of music in order to fully appreciate what is an absolutely staggering body of work. To say Dark Juan is blown away is like saying Dark Juan contemplated stealing a wolf cub yesterday…
“In A Late Country”, to try to briefly summarise what is a sprawling and expansive narrative, is a post-apocalyptic djent metal concept album which tells the story of a young man trying to find his lost girlfriend in the midst of a government-controlled evacuation program dealing with an overpopulated city. The lyrics are the dialogue between all the characters and thankfully the band and their PR guys sent me a copy of the lyrics so I could understand what is going on in the story. It’s a bit like “Operation: Mindcrime” insofar as the album tells a coherent story, but it is richly complex and light-years ahead of anything I have heard before. Including Queensryche.
THIS DOES NOT EVEN COME CLOSE TO DESCRIBING WHAT A FUCKING EXHILARATING AND EXTREME RECORD THIS IS.
The music is that fucking complex that Dark Juan was lost in the frankly staggering musicianship of the band within two tracks, and, ladies, gentlemen and gentlefolk of all other genders, we have a new genre unfolding before us – djent opera. Everything about this record is absolutely perfect. The production is sublime; every instrument is crystal clear, and the players fade in and out of the mix when different characters are talking and the music is a living thing, by turns absolutely murderous, staggeringly poignant, goose-steppingly martial, uncompromisingly savage or just plain bludgeoning. Unusual time signatures and changes abound and how any human can wrap their poor meat computers around what’s going on musically is a miracle, let alone the Swiss nutjobs who have actually written and performed it.
As this album is a whole tale, I can’t pick out single songs as worthy of your attention as it REQUIRES you to hear it as a complete work. What I can tell you, though, is that it’s not just djent played by these gents. Djent is just the beginning – Black Metal, blast beats, Tech Death, Trad Metal, Jazz and even Emo are components of this chimeric and complicated beast. Gabba Techno underpins massive Djent riffs at times and the vocalist, Lukas Villgar, is staggeringly versatile, cranking the kind of deep-seated roaring that would not be out of place on a Trad Death record out and interspersing this with high-pitched Black Metal screams, clean crooning, heartfelt wailing and somehow managing to create a different voice for each character as they interact.
And the music – every player of an instrument here is some kind of genetically modified creation, to be able to play such complex songs and to make it so engaging, fresh and vibrant is totally impossible, yet they have somehow done it. Welding a complex narrative to even more complex music and somehow avoiding it becoming entirely self-indulgent is frankly miraculous. It’s beyond even cinematic – it is a universe all of its own and it drags you into it. You don’t listen. You EXPERIENCE…
The inventiveness of Mycelia is beyond comprehension. Dark Juan is seated, goosebumps all over his body, mind absolutely awash with sensation and absolutely unable to articulate what the fuck is happening inside his head or how to adequately describe the wonders he is listening to. It’s well known I’m partial to prog and hypertechnical metal but nothing has ever come close to this. Cruelly surgical precision in drumming, ambient noise, devastating synths, nods to Dance, film scores, EBM and Industrial and the most technical Metal I have ever heard come together with a story that is also brilliantly conceived and the execution of the whole thing is nothing short of fucking godlike. Especially considering that the whole record isn’t even composed in their native language.
Compared to Mycelia and their absolute genius, I am talentless, worthless and an illiterate piece of shit. I am awed, humbled and blown so far away I am in a new galaxy. If you don’t buy this you’re fucking insane, peoples. Total perfection from start to finish. I’m going for a quiet lie down to try and process what I have just listened to…
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System has decided that there is not a number large enough in existence to score this. So, whatever comes after a googolplex out of ten. Mycelia have achieved transcendence. Holy fuck.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Prologue
02. A Rude Visitation
03. The Beginning of a Long Hangover
04. Cryostatic Clubbing
05. Cryostatic Clubbing – Part 2
06. Through Memory’s Eyes
07. Towards the Melting Library
08. The Librarian and the Flock of Birds
09. Conversing with Terrorists
10. Two Numbers
11. An Appointment at the Doctors
12. Across the City and into…
13. In a Gas Station at the Outskirts of the Meth Desert
14. In a Gas Station at the Outskirts of the Meth Desert – Part 2
15. My Own Private Spot of Snow
LINE-UP:
Lukas Villigar – Vocals
Eugen Wiebe – Bass
Mike Schmid – Guitars
Marc Trummer – Drums
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
