In case like me you were wondering exactly what the album title alludes to, the Archaeopteryx meaning ‘ancient wing’ was considered one of the oldest known prehistoric birds. That out the way, what about the band? Well if you are a Terrorizer reader you may have come across one of their tracks on a recent Fear Candy compilation CD but otherwise the chances are this solo studio project from Cambridgeshire may have slipped under your radar. Hopefully this will be addressed soon as this although self released (and I have a feeling the project won’t be for long) a huge amount of care and attention to detail has gone into both the music and packaging here. There is a limited edition available of 240 hand made cross boxes with impressive looking screen printed artwork as well as a standard version which I have, also with screen printed art strikingly laid out on black card.
The music itself touches various different genres and is an impressive cocktail of ideas that have been carefully constructed by innovator Jonathan Mizzi. After a slow quiet fading in opening we are suddenly plunged into ‘The Beating Of A Billion Locust Wings’ exuding a heady progressive bombast touching on elements of both death and doom. Guitars weep and unravel taking in elements akin to My Dying Bride, early Katatonia and other more eccentric acts of old Albion such as Ebony Lake. There are vocals but they are back in the mix, growling and gravid but for me the emphasis is really held on the convoluted strains of the instrumentation, which now adds a guitar solo and meanders through realms of darkness and into light before the fluttering of wings is made extinct. ‘Spare The Nebula’ has a bit more of a progressive feel to it and I am reminded here of more recent and solo Ihsahn by the instrumentation, the vocals still low are more frantic and I also cant help thinking of Akercocke as the music flexes muscles and wanders all over the place on a wild schizophrenic ride. The glistening and glittering guitar textures really work as this evolves and their cadence completely involves the listener before the song takes a final canter off into errant skewed harmonic territories. Calm acoustic parts touch on Opeth as Vacuum Decay eases up from an in the face and hostile gravity defying start. The gentle flow is really dreamy and you are floating through space rather than choking on your last breath. A gentle instrumental is next and ‘Spiralling Away from the Earth’ pretty much does as describes and is a really calming number to float away to and does not give a hint of the more violent moments the act is capable of. The album closes with ‘Thira’ which really does go for it with zeal and a wealth of head melting instrumental nuances that combine to give the listener a real challenge.
Although I have enjoyed this ‘Archaeopteryx’ is far from a couple of listens album, you really need to keep coming back to it for everything to sink in and work with it to get a remote feel of all the ideas it contains. To me it feels very British as well as eccentric, somewhat deranged and eclectic. This is no bad thing at all. My one complaint is the vocals, I really think this could do with a stronger singer but can appreciate when you are a solo project you do not want to let anyone else in. I will be interested to see where Irisblind goes next as I am sure it will be an interesting journey.
http://www.myspace.com/irisblind
Pete Woods
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