Review: Apeiron Bound – Multiplicity

Style: Progressive Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Symphonic Metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Between the Buried and Me, weird and heavy Devin Townsend/Strapping Young Lad, old Leprous
Review by: Christopher
Country: Florida, United States
Release date: 26 August, 2022

What does it mean for music to be avant-garde or experimental? Not every new project can be completely original; every artist comes with the baggage of influences, if they didn’t then what they produced might not even resemble what we call music. And so, even the avant-garde side of progressive metal comes with its own tropes, its own predictable unpredictabilities. What counts is how that mix of familiarity and oddity is utilised to new ends and brought into an overall satisfying sound. 

Apeiron Bound are as contradictory as their name (‘Apeiron’ means infinite or boundless, so they’re bound for infinity but one could read it as ‘Apeiron, Bound’: that their boundlessness is bound; a contradiction), and their debut Multiplicity is a showcase of their bizarro take on progressive metal. Their closest ancestors are the deeply underrated Palaeopneumatic by Dissona, and Organized Chaos’ debut Inner Conflict, but some more conventional comparisons may be required: the off-kilter theatricality of Coal by Leprous is on display, and the schizoid nature of Devin Townsend’s Deconstruction or BTBAM at their most idiosyncratic can be heard, but there’s something stranger going on here.

Much of the peculiarity of their sound seems to be achieved by playing with octaves, and thick, augmented chords; sounding familiar if it weren’t for that one note throwing everything into dissonant disarray. Strange polyrhythms and contrapuntal melodies both contribute to the sense that the band members are almost playing against one another, and the highly synthetic orchestrations and guest instruments—the sitar effect sounds like it’s straight off a nineties Yamaha keyboard in a middle school classroom—lend to the bizarre hyperreality of Apeiron Bound’s overall vibe. And yet this is quite approachable for avant-garde (or perhaps I’ve just built up an immunity); it’s weird, for sure, challenging, but Multiplicity is by no means inaccessible. 

Apeiron Bound say they’re influenced by extreme metal, prog rock, classical, thrash, groove, fusion, and electronic music; some are more discernible than others—classical, extreme and electronic are the main three. Such a glut of influences could result in a Frankenstein’s monster of stitched together sounds, but Apeiron Bound’s sound is undoubtedly cohesive; if you like one song, you’re likely to enjoy the rest. “My Sweet Stockholm” is an illustrative example. An eerie harp motif swims alongside a chaotic riff and complex drumwork, before harsh vocals brimming with invective let their anger be known. Then come in the somewhat power metal cleans that reach ridiculous highs. Things get a bit BTBAM in the middle as the riffs sprawl endlessly outwards, then we’re treated to a buzzing electronic bassline and off-key piano before a defiantly dissonant guitar solo cuts in. A more gothic style clean section from guest vocalist John T Sterling provides a break before a Devin Townsend style heavy riff with choir enters, taking us to the song’s close. Suffice to say, there’s a lot going on, and that’s the case for every track on Multiplicity, and yet all of those seemingly disparate segments form a surprisingly cohesive whole, flowing and blending impressively. 

One of my bugbears is when bands don’t provide lyrics. Apeiron Bound are one such offender but the vocals are extraordinarily clear, transcribably so. Vocalist Michael Calza appears to have stolen the voices of about five different musicians, with cleans that variously evoke Vladimir Lalic, Michael Mills, even a hint of Bruce Dickinson at times, and harshes that recall both Tommy Giles and Devin Townsend. The lead guitar performance deserves kudos too, sounding like the work of a player who knows guitar theory inside-out and has transcended the need for it. Indeed, every member is giving their all and, compositionally speaking, there’s very little to fault; there’s an experimentally imprecise game of precision at play here.

However, at sixty-five minutes, Multiplicity is undeniably on the long side for a debut, and that’s a gamble. A punchy forty minutes will often serve you better than overstaying your welcome. You’re unlikely to have heard anything quite like Apeiron Bound before and so getting used to their weirdness is half the fun, but Multiplicity would nevertheless probably have benefited from being a little tighter rather than sprawling out like some zany metastasis. This is a challenging listen and I like a lot of what’s going on—I couldn’t pinpoint any specific excesses I would remove— but there aren’t many great peaks here either. I can’t help but feel that a fifteen minute cut from this album would hone its edge. Ironically, Multiplicity’s multiplicity is what holds it back; having found their singularly oddball sound, Apeiron Bound seem a little unsure what to do with it, and so this record becomes a collection of songs that feel somewhat in want of an aim or overarching structure. Lyrically, from what I can discern, it is a thematically coherent work, but in terms of the actual music I don’t feel a sense of overarching structure. 

You won’t hear many debuts with as assuredly unique and complex a sound as Apeiron Bound’s, and this will prove a rewarding work with those willing to put in the time to appreciate its density. However, I find myself drawn to individual songs more than the album as a whole, and Multiplicity feels a little less than the sum of its parts, a bit aimless and over-indulgent in places. A tightening of focus—which in no way is a suggestion that they compromise their charismatic quirkiness—will allow these unique musicians to cultivate their obvious talents. These guys really are bound for Apeiron, they’re just not quite there yet.

Recommended tracks: Eleutheromania, My Sweet Stockholm, Astral Reflection
You may also like: Dissona, Organized Chaos, Rototypical
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Layered Reality Productions – Website | Facebook

Apeiron Bound is:
– Michael Calza (vocals and lyrics)
– Andrew Stout (guitars and composition)
– Phillip Colacecchi (guitars)
– Kyle Sokol (electric and upright bass)
– Kristopher Huffman (drums)