Yowie
Cryptooology

Most of the time, in a childish way, we are attracted to things based on their exterior. And sure, the title plays a big part as well. Lastly, but not less important, the names, durations, and quantity of the tracks. At least, that happens to me very often.

(Fade out)

It happened to me, a while ago, with those two madmen from Orthrelm. Yes, the guitarist and the drummer with no half-measures: yes, the EP with 99 very short tracks ("Asristir Vieldriox") and the album with a single 45-minute track, headache-inducing ("OV"). Truly madmen. At times unbearable, but too brilliant not to listen to. And then, all it takes is a second listen. The thing is, few have the courage, that's the whole issue. The advantage is that during the second listen, knowing you're not exactly in safe territory regarding melodies, you notice the devastating technique. And you drool, regretting the mistakes you made.

(Fade out)

Well, aggressive cartoon cover, and I dare say absurd, band name "Yowie," album name "Cryptooology," 7 rather short tracks totaling half an hour, all with titles starting with T. You can understand that, given these premises, I was too curious. If, on top of that, it appears under the label Math and a bit Avant-garde, it's instant orgasm. And all without even having listened to a second of the actual album.

Well, guess what? Without even trying, I swear, the first notes (and all the subsequent ones) reminded me immediately of Orthrelm. Coincidentally, Yowie consists of two guitars and a drum set. Now, you can easily see that, although with Orthrelm the guitar was just one (and could practically do anything it wanted - with the drummer's consent, of course), if there are two guitars, the chaos created is significant, since it's Math-rock. More or less the chaos of the old Captain Beefheart, but much more studied, and without voice.

An instrumental album, therefore, where technique is what matters, but unlike the aforementioned (I won't repeat the name, otherwise, it sounds tedious), a thing we love gradually unfolds, for us listeners of music as essentially human as possible: melody! Aaaaah, how we love melody, don't we?

Over ten, twenty, twenty-five (then the album ends, huh!) minutes, you'll realize that it's not just the cover that's cartoonish. But I won't tell you what that means, also because I wouldn't know how to tell you.

I'm tempted to give a 5, but they are so absurd that I can't. Music like this doesn't deserve a rating, positive or negative. I don't even know if it deserves to exist, to be really mean. Just a listen. Because in a while, no one will remember people like these.

So instead of voting, go fish them out, huh? You've "voted" enough for my taste. Come on, are you still here?