Mathcore, Noise, Metal, Jazz? That’s the conundrum we are posed with on confronting this album by French instru(mentalists) Ni. Well to me it’s mathcore due to the fact that things never stand still for a second and the motion within lurches all over the shop like a gymnast tackling algebraic formula on a trampoline. To be honest if this had been sent in digitally it would have been easy to press the delete button but we got in on CD, not once but twice, from two different PR agencies and whilst others could ignore and probably hope I didn’t send it their way, it looks like I am lumbered with it. So preparing myself to be thrown through a hedge backwards and torn inside out, turned upside down and get giddy on riffs it was approached with caution. Maths, I hasten to add, apart from the very basics, was never my strong point.
What I did like about this is the artwork and the title that translates to “born mad” in old French. The players have presented themselves as jesters and mad fools here and as they tease with a slow ambient entrance into the coruscating grooves of Zerkon it’s easy to acknowledge where they are coming from. However mischievous jesters often fell out of favour due to extreme irritation at their jocular pranking and quite frankly by the time we free-fall into the chaos of second number ‘Dagonet’ I could happily bury these jokers down an oubliette or throw them out the nearest tower. It’s 99/% instrumental here driven by the zealous contortions of guitarists Anthony Béard and François Mignot but the hirsute named one also adds some occasional maddening screams to things, or perhaps it’s me having got on this ride and desperately wanting to get off. They employ that radio-tuning in and out of different stations trick at the start of Brusquet but by now my mind is full of warped spasms and I am not entirely sure if I am beginning to get motion sickness. Oh there goes the needle sticking button being pressed ala digital noise….help.
Even a section of calm at one point doesn’t help and just allow me to contemplate the sweat dripping down fevered brow before the next section of djenty lunacy. Further down the line I am not surprised about a three-part track named Triboulet, a renowned jester from the court of Francis 1st who tricked the enraged monarch into sparing his life after slapping him on the bum! Allowing him to choose the fashion of his own death he opted to die of old age and somehow got away with it. At least he didn’t have to choose between death or listening to the rest of this album.
Yeah so obviously I don’t like this in the slightest. That said I can’t fault the skills of the players or the reaction they have caused. Indeed, it’s something they should actually be proud of. Normally if I have a real problem with an album I try getting over it by turning the volume up. On this occasion I did the opposite and turned it down, as frankly it was giving me a bloody headache! Congratulations to Ni but as far as my kingdom is concerned, consider yourselves banished!
(+-%X / <> Pete Woods)
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