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The Algorithm

Octopus4

Written by: MN on 01/06/2014 17:19:54

The Algorithm, as the name implies, is a work of extreme complexity and a project that seeks to challenge all borders within the spectrum of genres that we know today. This is not necessarily something new, but it always turns out to be a massive discussion of whether the given musician is succesful in his/her venture. Rémi Gallego, the man behind The Algorithm, is a man who plants his feet in electronic music but mixes his bass drops with that of a heavy djent guitar and metal drumming. His first few releases garnered him enough recognition to inspire drummer Mike Malyan to cover one of his hugely complex electronic productions in a youtube clip. Astounded in the musical finesse and tightness of Malyan's drumming, Rémi contacted Malyan and thus formed the duo that is now The Algorithm. Eventually, touring guitarist Max Michel joined the force, but after a while had to leave since was accepted into the prestigious Berklee to pursue an academic musical career.

With the hugely successful debut "Polymorphic Code" gaining critical acclaim for its combination of dubstep, mathcore, prog-metal and of course djent, The Algorithm is now ready to face the challenge with a sophomore record by the name "OCTOPUS4". This mammoth of a record tallies up at over fifty minutes and is an effort that is worth taking an interest in. To the dismay of some, The Algorithm has taken a somewhat stylistic turn with this release. There is now a more electronic dance vibe to the production and less metal. Perhaps this is an effort to try and reach a broader audience, which I presume will be successful. This is still a great album with song likes "will_smith" completely stealing the show with its scizophrenic twist and turns from dubstep into Justice-like bass thumps and intense riffage.

Bepop-inspired "discovery" is another fun venture into genre-meshing. Rémi is a playful composer who obviously has spent some time crunching the buttons on a gameboy or similar. Some of the songs like "loading" and "synthesiz3r" use plenty of 8-bit and samples as if taken directly of an eighties Commodore 64. The album as a whole starts of with more of a light tone but around midway morphs into a more dark expression with the definitive turning point at "Damage Points", a song that uses some samples reminiscent of looming terror in a Japanese 80's manga. Speaking of Japan, an artist that seems to be doing something similar is the London-based Japanese DJ named Scotch Egg. The last and most "metal" track of this record is "Octopus4" which is a nine minute long kaleidoscope of both drum'n'bass intermeshed with djent riffs and orchestral synths. It develops brilliantly by constantly adding new layers on to it. The drumming eventually goes completely ballistic and proves Malyans skills as a drummer able to face the challenge of perfoming alongside a computer.

The Algorithm is quite a fascinating venture, and one can only admire the courage of challenging the prefixed parameters and code of conduct within heavy metal. The only thing that can perhaps put me off a little bit is the lack of authentic instrumentation as it is all extremely well channeled through the most advanced music programming technology. That being said the variety of instruments being used is astounding. For example, a bass-saxophone and a keyboard provide a nice breathing space in the final number. It really is the music of the future, for better or worse. That being said, if I suspend my conservative inclination towards the classic four-piece rock band constellation, then I definitely can see The Algorithm reach the stars with this commendable release.

Download: Octopus4 , will_smith, discovery
For The Fans Of: Dj Scotch Egg, Tesseract, Animals As Leaders
Listen: facebook.com

Release date 02.06.2014
Basick records