Botanist: "Collective: The Shape of He to Come"

Difficult to enjoy, but more than just haphazardly composed black metal

Not being familiar with the works of Botanist, you'll have to excuse me for expecting something a bit different than what Collective: The Shape of He to Come is. In a way you could easily argue that the cover for this 2017 album is indeed very fitting of the obscure, yet oddly naturalistic sounds found on the disc. Whatever it was I originally had thought this album would sound like, that notion was blown to bits and pieces.

"...chances are this album by the San Francisco artist will be hard to enjoy."

Collective: The Shape of He to Come is definitely one of the weirder albums I've heard recently. Though labelled as post-black metal from the natural world (or green metal), the outcome is much more eldritch and otherworldly than so. Unless atonality, contradicting rhythmic patterns, sludgy musical mires and mind boggling melodies overgrown with subtext and overtones are your thing, chances are this album by the San Francisco artist will be hard to enjoy.

It's fun to hear an aesthetic usually belonging to the advanced, esoteric death- or black metal crowd used in such a different and decidedly un-metal setting, essentially like if Deathspell Omega and Hexvessel had an illegitimate child together, spawned in the middle of the forest. From a strictly personal point of view, The Shape of He to Come won't see many repeated spins in the household, but this type of musical absurdity has an inherent weirdly enticing charm to it that is sure to appeal to that above mentioned group of fans.

5/10

Released in 2017 by Favonian (LP) and Avantgarde Music (CD)

Links

Botanist on FACEBOOK
Botanist on BANDCAMP
Avantgarde Music OFFICIAL SITE
Favonian OFFICIAL SITE

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