Green metal, avant-garde black metal, progressive metal, experimental metal … whatever it is, “VIII: Selenotrope” is Botanist’s eleventh full release. The VIII signifies that it is the eighth with Otrebor in sole charge. Otrebor is the composer and multi-instrumentalist, and is also behind the hammered dulcimer which replaces the need for guitars. As the band name suggests, nature, greenery and plants are at the forefront. “The Botanist” sees himself isolated from humanity and surrounded by plants and flowers, which are envisaged to cover the earth when humanity destroys itself.

I’d never heard the dulcimer used in metal before – usually I’ve known it used by people like Jim Couza to play traditional folk tunes – but here it for sure adds to the overall disturbing effect of this work. It’s not just that of course, although the instrument itself conveys doom when used aggressively. The sound is distorted, Otrebor’s vocals rasp in black metal style, and it’s altogether an unbalancing experience. Triggering drums are part of it too, and accompany the sombre and imposing tones of the hymn-like “Risen from the Rain”. I’d describe it as epic but the dulcimer doesn’t get us there, and the atmosphere is sinister and spooky. The literally hammered dulcimer-playing that characterises “Epidendrum Nocturnum” spoke psychosis to me. The rare chorus reinforces the hallucination. A change of tempo sends us into a funereal choral dirge. Atmospheric it is, but it’s not comfortable listening. “Mirabilis” with its tonelessness and whisperings serve to perpetuate the nightmare. I’m not sure whether I’m becoming more crazed and insane than its creator.

For a time it heads into a kind of grey and persistent soundtrack, with a haunting choir for added effect. The choir enter “Angels Trumpet” too. The musical backdrop is confused and busy, too much so, and the piece lacked sharpness and for me fell away into a musical chasm. The mood then shifts with the title piece. It is pensive and has a kind of Mediterranean sadness about it. “Sword of the Night” has the air of a sinister drama. The hissing black metal diction takes us into the realms of horror. The haunting choral voices hover above. A dark turn is taken when the dissonant dulcimer-playing becomes more aggressive and urgent. The direction changes again for no obvious reason but the dissonance and the sickness remain. In so far as it’s led up to anything, the album culminates with “The Flowering Dragon” at just under 15 minutes. Drum and dulcimer contrive to make a sinister and unholy racket. I suppose lack of clarity goes naturally with black metal but whilst I get the discomforting atmosphere part of it, its urgency, mixed with a periodic dull chorus, just make it exceptionally hard to listen to. Again I can see the artistic merit in having no pattern, but this seems strandless and pointless. I have missed something. The chorus strikes out, but it’s neither mystical nor imperious. I found myself being drowned in discordance and choral histrionics which served to make less sense of something which made little sense to start with.

It’s a nightmare. I could listen to “Selentrope” a thousand times over, and I doubt whether my ears could ever attune to it. I simply could not make any headway in the thick foliage that this album represents. I listened to a couple of pieces from earlier albums, but couldn’t get to grips with them either. I accept that if you release 11 albums, somebody must like something about it. Otrebor would disagree, I’m sure, but for me the dulcimer works better with simple, celtic folk songs. It’s not powerful enough for black metal atmospherics. “Selentrope” is a bold work. I’ll give it that.

(3/10 Andrew Doherty)

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