Perhaps only Satan truly knows what it takes for a grizzled veteran to stay vital and relevant in the predominantly youth-generated genre of Heavy Metal, but Paul D’Amour seems to have cracked the code. As a founding member of Tool, the bassist D’Amour was one of the architects of an insurgent and progressive sound that expanded and re-defined the boundaries of Metal in the early 90s. Twenty years later and D’Amour is still at the vanguard of heavy rock with his latest project Feersum Ennjin. A bursting black stormcloud of Heavy Metal enlightenment, their darkly atmospheric debut album is heavy but hypnotic, spooky and cinematic. Most of the tracks are ominous, down-tempo grinders with layers of crunchy guitars and thunderous drums (including Tool drummer Danny Carey on one track). The arrangements are mostly unorthodox, with many tunes winding unexpectedly through a number of tempo changes, mood shifts and waves of noise. This “Mobius strip” approach to songwriting is a brilliant tactic to employ, completely removing as it does any air of redundancy that is rampant in almost every single type of popular music including Heavy Metal (perhaps the most predictable music genre). Never rising above the level of a low grumble is a thin haze of growling synth-bass parts gurgling up here and there throughout the record, and this too indicates a fierce determination to pursue further forays outside any pre-conceived definition of Heavy Metal. Balancing a seemingly-impossible blend of head-banging and soul-searching, Feersum Ennjin’s heavy and haunting debut is a smart and angry revelation.
(Feersum Ennjin, release date: November 22, 2011)
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