Behold the Arctopus

As any dedicated music fan knows, bands pushing the envelope are more the stuff of legend than everyday record purchasing. If Behold…the Arctopus haven’t already captured your imagination, let it be known they are the music nerd’s equivalent of striking gold. Put simply, their torrential progressive experimentation shreds most of their contemporaries to pieces. Manic madness collides with drawn out, atmospheric moments, creating an avant-garde dynamic between noodling, thrash, melody and dissonance. Their take on jazz is more along the lines of Candiria than Dillinger Escape Plan but they easily devour them both in terms of songwriting and musicianship. Every note is executed flawlessly and their ability to manoeuvre their way through songs as well as their respective instruments is humbling. Colin Marston is a virtuoso on the warr guitar, a twelve-string monster that covers the range of both a guitar and a bass, played primarily by tapping. Charlie Zeleny’s beats are mind-boggling and the brief drum solo in "Estrogen/Pathogen Exchange Program” highlights his immense ability on the battery. Guitar player Mike Lerner contributes awe-inspiring fret board wizardry, constituting an integral component making BTA one of the finer bands around. An unusual bonus to any CD, live versions of several songs are tacked onto the end, proving that they aren’t just a studio band, riffing leisurely over the course of several takes. N-NCS will definitely make many year-end lists.