Style: Instrumental Prog Rock, Math Rock
Recommended for fans of: The Mars Volta, Porcupine Tree, King Crimson
Review by: Mark
Country: UK
Release date: November 18, 2022
Growing up in Ireland, there wasn’t a huge amount to enjoy as a budding prog nerd when it came to music festivals. Even amongst the metal-focused outings in the UK and Europe I would be lucky to find one that hosted just a few bands that I genuinely liked, and there is only so many times one can watch Iron Maiden or Kiss headline to a sea of aged battle jackets. However, in 2018 I stumbled across the line-up for the much beloved Arctangent Festival in Bristol and never before have I seen such a series of knockout live bands before. Since then, the cast has only become more star-studded and it is one of the easiest recommendations I could make to any prog fan.
It was at that 2018 installment where I first discovered today’s review victim, Poly-Math. At the time they were a mere three-piece, delivering a notably energetic and complex instrumental set in the middle of the afternoon that really stood out to me during my hungover reflections on the bus home. Dark, heavy, and riff-laden, it reminded me of a late-night Toska and I was keen to dig into the rest of their discography. Now, with their latest album Zenith, the band has expanded to include both a full-time saxophonist and a keyboardist and it’s here when I became excited to see how they might use these elements to build upon a sound that I remembered fondly.
To the uninitiated, Zenith firmly houses the established characteristics of Poly-Math‘s sound; high-intensity instrumental prog, littered with psychedelic textures, angular rhythm sections, dissonant harmony, thick riffs, and driven syncopation. These ingredients have married very well to the addition of sax and keys, which in turn seems to have led the band in new compositional directions. The saxophone has been used to intensify their more frenetic sections, shifting what was once purely abrasive metal composition into “bad trip” vibes. Meanwhile, the keys have not only added weight to the riffs, but have also bolstered all their calmer passages by filling the space with ambient textures. The final result feels like a fairly equal mix of the hyper instrumentation of The Mars Volta with the drunken brass of early King Crimson, all cradled in the math-rock sound of Bristol from which they hail.
Zenith is not an album I would present as the friendliest exordium to the world of prog. Having saxophone as a primary feature throughout the entire record does wonders for its sense of identity, but, depending on your mood, in the more frantic sections it can very easily fall into an unbearably obnoxious territory. Normally this wouldn’t be the case, but when frequently mixed with harshly dissonant melodies I think mileage is going vary for some. Overall, the calmer moments on the album, such as “Charger”, are considerably more palatable and make room for a gorgeous inventory of keys and moody grooves. Thankfully, the whole record is supported by a rock-solid rhythm section that allows the band to get away with the more experimental moments; I felt the album may have been a dud without this glue to keep it all together.
Ultimately, Zenith is a succinct, self-assured, and sophisticated piece of instrumental prog that is an easy recommendation for any veteran listeners of the genre. The more cacophonous regions of the songs may be a little too rich for some, and I often did find myself one of those people. However, the focus and talent at hand here is pretty undeniable and considering how Poly-Math have evolved over time, I will be very excited to see what they do next.
Recommended tracks: Velociter, Charger
You may also like: Black Peaks, Gösta Berlings Saga, Toska, Ex Eye
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook
Label: Nice Weather for Airstrikes – Bandcamp | Facebook
Poly-Math is:
– Chris Olsen (saxophones)
– Timothy Laulik-Walters (guitars)
– Joseph Branton (bass)
– Chris Woollison (drums)
– Joshua Gesner (keyboards, synthesizers)
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