Sugar, we're going down to Soup town
Antlered Man's mini album "Buddhist Soup (Giftes Part 1)" is a rarity. Seldom does a debut scream with such personality, sincerity and peculiarity. The influence of the Melvins is undeniable, yet the British quartet has formulated a sound that boasts both refreshing originality and delightful eccentricity.
Guitarist Danny Fury gets the trippy track 'Outrages 1 ta 3' off to a start, with the elements of Antlered Man's sound individually introducing themselves. Drummer Oliver Parker's hi-hats pattern enters with a somewhat uncomfortable rigidity and despite being rhythmically suited, it is not until the band unites fully that the track genuinely finds its groove. The synth additions work fantastically, especially when enhanced by the soaring vocal lines, transporting the listener away to a hallucinogenic aural world laden with reverb.
As the mini album progresses to second track 'Better the Calamity You Know', a strange comparison with System of a Down begins to form, with the dual vocal approach used bearing similarity to the Daron Malakian-inspired sections of frenetic musical outbreaks. This familiarity certainly returns in the fourth and fifth tracks, with the explosive manner of Damo Ezekiel Holmes' vocals also briefly developing to show a Jonathan Davis degree of coarseness in the latter song before making way for an entirely different persona again. Antlered Man's sound never settles long enough to allow boredom to set in, yet always impressively feels competently interrelated.
The quartet are joined by flautist Sarah Townsend for 'Buddhist Soup', also layering glockenspiel and violin parts over fuzz-heavy guitars and processed vocals. Whistling also features prominently to offer further disorientation, leaving you constantly questioning just what on Earth you are experiencing. The compositional skeleton of 'If You Can't Beat Them, Try Solvents' has a bizarre child-like innocence about it, yet it has been fleshed out with overdriven guitar tones and sturdy drums to remind you that this is in no way child's play.
Although a collection of five tracks would normally constitute categorisation as an EP, the coherence and depth demonstrated by Antlered Man certainly supports their classification of "Buddhist Soup (Gifties Part 1)" as a mini album. Whilst it is difficult to pinpoint the exact ingredient that enables the five track release to shimmer, it is the flavouring of originality that sets Antlered Man aside from the rest of the crowd. We're ready for the second course; bring on Part 2!