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Limbs - Body Without REVIEW


Chaotic black-gazer and anonymous musician Limbs has just released his sophomore effort titled "Body Without" on Bandcamp. Apparently, Limbs is a one-man project from Manila and I might be crazy when I say that this is one of the most polarizing local projects I have heard in a while.

Limbs' sound kind of draw influences from A Place To Bury Strangers, Black Angels, and even Beast Jesus for the displacement of genres in a song. His first release, "Nightly", was dizzying and its noise from some of its tracks didn't make it in the cut of being cutting edge. In his latest release "Body Without" however, was more well-executable more than it is sonically fashionable.

The first track "Gossamer Hour" starts off with harsh noise in the first few seconds. The track borrows influences from other blackgaze bands like Oathbreaker and adds a little dab of the industrial noise in between hooks of the track. I honestly did feel like this track was too messy but as I kept on listening to it over and over, it kind of felt like some parts are starting to connect. The second track "Wax Language" goes at full speed with the black metal blast beats, thrashing, and effectual lyrics. From here on, the project starts to pick up.

The third track titled "Fever Fawns" might be a favorite track of mine in the project. Everyone here from my contributing writers to my readers knows that i'm a sucker for shoegaze and that reason alone puts the third as one of my favorite. But seriously though, "Fever Fawns" was placed directly in the middle of the project which fits just right in.

The fourth track "Downer Party" jumps right back in the black metal influenced territory and honestly i'm growing a bit tired of the speedy music alternately jumping in. The fifth and the last track, "Omega Station", is an appropriate closer of the project. It started off calm then it became a noise barrage as the sound begins to go through its sound limiter and it ends right when the noise hits its ceiling. I liked this track for having a nice build-up and its one of those rare instances where Limbs did it well by execution both in black metal and industrial noise elements.

Overall, Limbs' "Body Without" balances the unpredictable and the ambitious. Making the undiscovered look more like an experiment in the playing field of black metal and shoegaze.

Cohesion is what's missing in this project for me and I'm hoping that Limbs takes note of constructing his tracks in an orderly way. It's not bad to clutter your tracks with noise and all but there should be a running theme for other people to flow with your project in one sitting. I honestly have so much trouble in listening to this project and it took me a while to fully grasp what the concept is: The careful examination of other parts of a genre and deconstructing it for further study (probably).

Limbs' "Body Without" is soinically pleasing to hear but it lacks a bit of a significant bond between its tracks.

FAVORITE TRCKS: FEVER FAWN, OMEGA STATION

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