review: Protosequence

Protosequence

A Blunt Description of Something Obscene

Lacerated Enemy Records

19 May 2020

There is one very weird thing on this album. More on that in a minute.

“How can less be more?! More is more!”, has said the guitar wizard Yngwie Malmsteen. More is more in the world of Protosequence, too, and they want it to be fun, even if the young Canadians have chosen to wrangle with the wacky wild world of extreme prog-tech: super heavy frantic fast grunting jazz from hell. What makes musicians decide to go for the extreme prog-tech? The challenge! The fun is going to the border of disorder at fast speeds. You have to have a few screws loose in the noggin. Yes, it is still disgusting animalistic extreme sounds, but they have some quirkiness that makes the music sound a bit odd funky. Maybe it’s that they have unleashed the bassist and said, “You go as crazy as you want and do your thing, oh, you great Canadian, and we’ll find a way to hook up with you.” Or, maybe it’s the drummer and bassist seeing eye to eye as music soulmates.

These four songs (and four instrumental versions of the same songs) are plenty to keep the fans of the hyper extreme stuff busy. The vocalist is probably the most amused and amusing individual simply because he sounds like a fellow who grew up on pig farm. He heard the pigs make noises, and he thought that it was the coolest thing ever and he began imitating the pigs and all his life all he ever wanted was to make music as fun as the pigs in the farm. The boys in Protosequence needed a vocalist and they asked him to join. He said, “I will join on the condition that I am allowed to do pig squeals as much as I like! Also, I like to do bear grunts and I’ll be doing those bear gutturals, too.”

Lastly, the one weird thing: The second song begins with an unusually beautiful clean, melodic section. The listener will say: “Wait! I thought this caveman only knew how to burp, scream and barf. They actually know how to make music that normal humans can understand?” It’s melodic singing and it’s nice, but this is the only spot that they do this. So, the pig squealing guttural grunting growling brute can sing? The official information does not seem to say explicitly who sings. Anyway, a real down and dirty brutal slamming blasting pig squealing extreme band that has some singing as a real part of their sound would be fun.

laceratedenemyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/protosequence-a-blunt-description-of-something-obscene