Customer Reviews

Samus Octology

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I saw these guys play with Isis and Zombi in Boston a few days ago. They opened, and I've got to be honest, i didn't want them to go off the stage, and make way for the other bands. I picked up this CD from the band after the show. I believe they aren't signed yet, but i am willing to bet they will be on hydrahead or ipecac in no time at all. Their sound is difficult to describe but pelican and dredg come to mind. There are no vocals on the albulm, however they do have a single, maybe he is only for their new material, not sure. but anyway, this disc is absolutely phenomenal. I have never seen such a brilliant juxtaposition of very delicate and precise melody with downright brutal metal. This band is easily in the same upper echelon of metal as Isis and Pelican are (that says a lot given the fact that this is their first release). I expect to see a lot more material from these guys in the near future and if you like pelican and isis, than pick it up. I have over 5000 cds and this one is easily in my top 5. I have been listening to it incessantly for days. the grooves and breakdowns are just soooo infectious. oh yeah, and apparently if you start the cd and the movie "goonies" at the same time, the CD serves as a perfectly synced soundtrack to the movie, haven't tried yet though

Mesmerizing. Atmospheric. Challenging. Intuitive. Epic.

Those are words I would use to describe Irepress, a highly progressive instrumental metal band from Massachusetts. With thick layers of distortion and intricate guitar leads that tug at your mind while allowing you to slip deeper and deeper into the oblivion of a perceived white noise until you're rudely awakened by the melody of a changing theme, Irepress have managed to walk the line between genius and car crash and come out on the other side with an incredible album in their hands and in our ears.

An album of this magnitude can be overwhelming because the band is challenging the mindset of music in the same way Explosions in the Sky are. Long winding passages of instrumental melody that are attacked with intricate riffing that can leave as quickly as it they've come.

Instead of straight droning Irepress explores the dynamics of the guitar and allows new life to breathe within them--harkening newer Deftones and the explosive, yet temperamental nature of Saturday Night Wrist. The delay riddled leads that fill space along with palm muted triplet riffs underneath create enough metallic edge to keep technical metal heads glued to their seats but the band is quirky. They use dissonance, feedback and ambiance to keep everyone else interested. You can hear the Sigur Ros as much as the Meshuggah, but its Sigur with balls and Meshuggah with a more dynamic, experimental sound. Very California rock.

The songs should be taken in as a whole and listened to the same way you'd listen to a classical piece; with an undivided attention to detail. DiNapoli and Silverberg will get the credit they deserve in ten years when people look back on this disc the same way people now look at Isis as one of the land marks of modern metal. They've crafted a modern work of art here.

The ambient twists and metallic turns of this forty five minute opus should keep any progressive metal head guessing, any technical metal head thinking and any lover of music enthralled.

This is my album of the year right now, no one comes even close.

These songs pack a powerful punch. Rhythmically they are a force to be recokned with. The atmosphere of these songs is deep, I feel like I'm in a different place while listening. The ambient guitar rhythms and riffs are amazingly soothing, perfect music to fall asleep to, until.... Metal in its smartest form, off time rhythms, odd time signatures, heavy riff's, breaks, and building. Then back into the calm serenity for a break..

The dynamics on this album are incredible, the musicians at work here are VERY talented, and very creative (its hard to find those in combination these days)

Buy this cd if you like music, you will not be dissapointed.

You'd think Neurosis and Isis would be getting royalties at this point for the sheer number of bands that have 'borrowed' their sound. Then again, if that's how it worked, everybody in Slint and the Pixies would be millionaires. But as we've stated repeatedly in the past, maybe there's nothing new under the sun, and yeah all bands steal/borrow/are influenced by other bands, but it's what you do with those borrowed sounds afterwards that makes a difference. Sure, without Neurosis there would be no Isis, but Isis took their Neurosis obsession and went in a whole new direction and created their own super distinctive sonic world. Hence most of the Isis and Neurosis influenced bands we love, have done just that, taken certain parts, and incorporated their own angle, added their own unlikely influences, and created a sound that if not ALL their own, was at least a unique take on a familiar sound.

Irepress definitely fit right in that whole post rock metal crowd. So all you fans of Isis, Pelican, Rosetta, Mouth Of The Architect, Tides, Grails, Angel Eyes, Conifer and the like, can probably just stop right here and press that BUY button and be done with it. But for those of you who are maybe a little saturated in terns of the whole postrockmetal thing, and wonder why exactly you should free up precious space on your cd shelf for Irepress, well, we'll tell you.

First off, these songs are just awesome. angular and complex, convoluted and tense. Emotional and super catchy. Not as metal as a lot of their brethren, but still pretty dang heavy, crunchy riffs, that go from jagged and harsh, to smooth and spacey often in the same song. But what makes Irepress really stand out is their unabashed, over the top progginess. Sure the genre itself has a built in prog aspect, with long songs and lots of parts, but Irepress take it even further, with LOTS of super proggy spacey breakdowns, swoony and blissed out, but mathy and a bit noodly as well, guitars are muted and understated, weaving complex soundscapes of subtle shuffle incorporating hand drums, trumpet, spaced out FX, drifting minor key melody, lots of delay and reverb, and a whole bunch of super unexpected little flourishes before lurching back into some loping monstrous metallic groove. Some of those parts sound like Santana, others like Genesis, but the thing is, they aren't just little breaks, they are as much a part of the sound and the songs as the crushing riffage or the mathy post rock. It's a strange combination, it takes a little while to get used to, imagine some jammed out fusion breaking into some almost Maidenesque guitar over a chugging metalcore breakdown, or some blissed out percussive ambience slowly building into a massive sludgy epic. Beyond the bands unique progginess, a lot of the riffs themselves are really strange, cobbled together from or broken up into convoluted chugs and soaring high end leads, bits of indie jangle and some seriously downtuned crunch.

A super strange band for sure, pushing lots of our favorite buttons, moody math rock, crushing metallic groove, spacey proggy noodle, dreamy ambience, all pretty dizzying actually, which is exactly why we can't seem to stop listening to this!

It is a very hard task to ever define a band, characterizing their sound so that they can be held in comparison to contemporaries. It has become even harder in recent times when so many bands combine various genres (sometimes the combinations working and sometimes not) and we force ourselves even harder to come up with new names just so we can tell the subtle differences between two very similar bands. Irepress broke the mold that we so earnestly tried to hold firm when they self-released "Samus Octology" in the fall of 2005.

Based upon a few seconds of very GY!BE-eske horn-work on the sixth track, "Fiddler, Yee Ryding", some may describe Irepress (pronounced like Irrepressible) as `just another post-rock band' but what most don't understand is that that is exactly what Irepress is not. If held up to the likes of Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai it would be a tough feat to find any real similarities linking the two. Instead of accentuating a slight tweak or alteration to an already established genre - what so many of today's artists have based their careers around - Irepress formed their own sound that, as of today, has escaped genre classification.

The sound that Irepress have created is what many bands today only dream of doing. The flawless interweaving of differing styles of seemingly mismatched genres come together to make for an individual and unique experience for the listener. Often throughout the album you are ripped from soft and dreamy synth-charged dreamscapes and thrust directly into heavy, bass-dominated, whirlpools of sound. However, even when these dramatic changes suddenly arise, it doesn't feel out of place and is actually rather pleasing. Complimenting Shan's impeccable work on his Bass are Dino and Benji, the dual guitarists, sometimes individually noodling out their own spacey yet complementary tunes, sometimes coming together to create truly massive riffs. At the times when you aren't being relentlessly overwhelmed by the crushing guitars and booming bass, you'll find yourself in romantic and calming havens crafted by Jarrett, master of the keyboard. Bringing up the rear, but not by far is Sheel, Shan's bother. Although not as blatantly noticeable as the aforementioned members, Sheel provides a solid backing; hitting those crisp cymbals just right when things got too calm, to get things going again.

One of the major influences of the band is the Classic 80's flic, "The Goonies." Some may find it hard to transfer emotions found in a family movie onto a soundtrack, but Irepress makes it seem like child's play. Following the protagonists throughout the movie are various metaphors for oppression or pressure, whether it be the dingy caves the characters find themselves trudging through, the bleak and oppressive atmosphere of rural Oregon, or the continual pursuit by the nefarious Fratellis. However, like in all good stories, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and the good guys win. Irepress has taken this story of adversity and worked it into their music flawlessly, interspersing the heavy and intense base of their music with quaint lapses of sheer splendor.

All in all, "Samus Octology" is an intense ride, a work of art if I may. It has changed, if only my, perception of what is music and how we're only kidding ourselves by finding pride in a minute change to a sometimes already dull genre. Albums like this arise very seldom. Albums like this should be cherished.

When I first listened to this band, I must say that they blew me away. These guys are able to maintain a peaceful yet aggressive atmosphere. I usually listen to harder Death Metal, but these guys seem to transcend genre and are probably enjoyable to anyone. Each song takes you for twists and turns and leaves you begging for more. A must listen.

When i first heard Samus Octology i was shocked as to how amazing it was. I instantly told everyone i knew about it and it caught on like wild fire. If you dont own this cd your sleeping so get it and listen to the best damn atmospheric progressive instrumental music ever put to cd.