Music: Questioner - s/t

I've been without words, distracted, busy, frustrated with 2010 for some reasons, excited for others. One of my major concerns is for the music of this year. As I said in a previous review, metal music at large had betrayed me with poor offerings one after another for about 6 months... So I dabbled elsewhere, into the avant for a while, but found little that was comparable to the album that sparked my interest, that redirected my attention. So I'm back with an album, and oh boy... what an album it is.

Questioner, previously known as Isthmus, were unknown to me. And they have a very small presence in a commercial sense. All I could find was a myspace and a bandcamp website where you can download the album for a modest price. After sampling the first 30 seconds of the first track I immediately went for my wallet. Giving the album a full spin I can honestly say my gut instinct on music is still as sharp as it ever was. (mind you this only concerns music that i might enjoy, as for anyone else my instincts generally fail miserably)

At first I wanted to describe each part of the album but that's not feeling right. I want to approach this as one entity because that's the perspective the composition lends itself to; so I'll describe the tone of the album. Questioner flows organically, but not in the sense that it's warm or comforting, in the sense that it's raw, unassuming, maybe a little rough around the edges. In a world where crystal clear production reigns, Questioner is deliberately muddy, but not to any detriment. The slightly mid-range heavy mix gives every nuance a sort of subtlety, a hint of modesty. The percussion is aggressive and seems to be the leading instrument with the guitar following close behind with a touch of reverb. The second spin is revealing minor tonality, but the resolutions are a little confusing. There's a lot hope in this which means they're taunting the listener with a few temporary resolves into the relative major. This approach gives Questioner a really nice emotional balance having sorrowful intervals resolved by big complex rhythm sections. I hear a bit of death metal, a bit of blasting black coming together in a nice posty blend of metal goodness.

Please let this be the turning point of 2010. Please.

5/5