Genre : Experimental Djent, Metalcore, Progressive metal
Released : January 28th, 2022
Label : Self-released
FFO : Meshuggah, Kadinja, Destrage, Northlane
Aside from sounding cool, the inclusion of the word "concept" within the band's name is no mere hazard, since The Dali Thundering Concept have pretty much always rooted their music in conceptuality and writing said music around said concepts.
Which is one of the main reasons as to why I was really looking forward to a new album from these guys, because I know that they put a lot of thought and research into the creation of these concepts, which, aside from displaying their ambitious creativity, also shed light on very urgent sociological and environmental issues we should all be conscious of.
This time around, we follow the journey of...a straw.
Yes, a plastic straw with a conscience, thoughts and emotions as it goes from being mass produced in a factory, to being discarded after its single usage and floating from a city's sewers to joining the tens of thousands of tons of plastic that currently float in the Pacific Ocean, commonly known as the "Plastic Continent".
The main idea behind this story is how mankind's seemingly almighty ingenuity, its immovable spot at the top of the food chain in the absence of God or a stronger predator and its unsustainable habits of production and consumption will eventually lead to mankind's creation becoming its downfall.
Obviously, this is far from being the first time this idea has appeared in a narrative, being given that it is a main trope of the science-fiction genre, however; The way in which TDTC approach it is bubbling with creativity since they take their concept beyond the music and into multiple different formats such as comics, 3D animation, video games and even creating an environmental collective inspired by the album which organizes scientific conferences and even hosted a walk from the northernmost point of France to its southernmost point that was done by the band's very own bassist, Steve Treguier, who would stop along his two month journey through the country to raise awareness about the issues the album touches on while also putting a spotlight on what small independent enterprises are doing throughout the country to reduce their environmental impact.
"But what about the music? We're only here for the music, what about it ?"
Yes, yes, I'm getting there, there's just a lot to unpack with bands that go this deep with their concepts and if you hadn't picked up on that yet, I'm a sucker for conceptual music and TDTC are incredibly dedicated to theirs.
In their interview with The Cast That Ends Creation, the band stated that they approached writing for this album as if they were composing a movie score, and that much is made clear as soon as the album opens with its incredibly chilling and cinematic "God Is Dead" (who even has synths reminescent of Hanz Zimmer's soundtrack for Interstellar).
Right away, you can tell that you're getting yourself into something very ambitious based on what's happening not only musically but lyrically speaking as well.
"Long Live Man" carries that vivid sense of theatricality forward while also displaying TDTC's stylistical flexibilities and will to experiment with different genres within a single track as we go from slam poetry to beefy djent into an industrial inspired bridge section before diving into modern prog metal tapping riffs; all of this while various electronic elements add to an already expansive soundscape.
This is something that happens quite a lot throughout the album and is also partly due to TDTC's habit of inviting various guests to feature on select tracks, each bringing their own distinctive style to the songs and playing as different key characters within the concept's narrative.
For instance, Ryo Kinoshita (Crystal Lake) plays the role of the "Rat King" the straw encounters in the sewers during the track "The Sea Starts Here", convincing him to retaliate against mankind for abandoning him and Raphaël Weinroth-Browne (Leprous) plays the role of Charon on the cello interlude "Styx" as the straw floats towards the "Plastic Continent".
Their previous album "Savages" already saw them dabbling with unexpected musical genres but here on "All Mighty Men" I feel like they've doubled down on the experimentation, which definitely keeps things fresh and causes a good few moments of surprise during the first listen when elements of jazz and even trap come to the surface in-between punchy djent chugs and hardcore breakdowns up until the simultaneously poppy and proggy epic conclusion that is "Candid Monster".
The main negative points I wound have to draw would be that for such an ambitious concept, I would have expected a lengthier album.
Another thing too is that, although necessary to the album's musical narrative, the instrumental interludes take a bit too much space for an album that roughly only has a half hour of run time.
I also feel like certain tracks loose some of that cinematic gravitas and intensity with which the album kicks off, which is a bit of a shame but it does however remain until the album's end point.
I'm a bit conflicted since on one hand I absolutely admire and adore what TDTC have done conceptually here but part of me feels like they might have put too much of a focus on conceptuality at the slight detriment of the music itself.
Either way, this album is definitely one of a kind within the genre and the scene in which it exists and I find TDTC to be criminally underrated given the amount of thought they put into their albums and the passion that lies behind their musicianship and unmistakable production style.
Not that many bands are able to address very serious ongoing world issues in such a creative and engaging way while also having some degree of fun to it and such tasty fucking riffs.
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