Dendritic Arbor are a group of madmen from Pittsburg intent on destroying our eardrums and challenging the concepts of what "metal," "heavy," and "music" really mean. You might have already caught a dose of what these talented musicians have to offer earlier this year with possibly my favoirte EP of 2015, Romantic Love, which we covered here on Metal Trenches. Check that out immediately if you haven't already. Now, just a few months later, we already have the pleasure of a follow-up in Sentient Village // Obsolescent Garden. And brother, it's a mean one.
Yes, this EP is a biter (or a "walker," depending on which camp you hang with). In fact, despite the ordered chaos that already was featured on the previous release, SV // OG feels heavier, louder, and angrier across the board. From the opening of "Cotard Delusion," my gut reaction was that this music is more chaotic and grindy. While Romantic Love was labeled by many as "blackened grindcore," I feel like here the blackened emphasis has been pulled back some in favor of a more aggressive avantgarde grindcore approach.
But don't take this to mean that all of that SV // OG is bereft of the aforementioned grimness we have come to love and expect. Amidst the fray of post-hardcore barks and death metal growls, there are certainly some croaky mashups of Proscriptor and Abbath to be found. Likewise, some of the guitar lines get pretty dark. This is most apparent on my favorite track, "Latex." Of the four, this is the song that would be most at home on Romantic Love. From the creeptastic guitar hook and pummeling drum intro to the excellent use of dynamics, this is chaos in its prime. There's even one section that reminded me of a riff from the latest Abyssal album.
I also want to assure you that the ambient and drone elements that make Dendritic Arbor's sound so strange and unique are still very much intact. "Keratoconus" in particular has a great moment that is truly hypnotic and discordant (blastbeat fury!) all at the same time. And there are a few straight ambient portions, including the final outro. These further add to an overall sense of skillfull arrangement using counter-intuitive methods. Not to mention they're just plain eerie.
So if you dug RL, or missed out the first time and are looking for something a little more out there (but not indigestibly so), I highly recommend you take a listen to Sentient Village // Obsolescent Garden and support the group with their very resasonable prices. I know I did.