Entry 042 - Saltillo - Monocyte

 

This one caught me by off guard when I first heard it. This came up on a metal blog that I was frequenting at the time, and after seeing a picture of the artist and his mighty beard I expected something introspective but exceedingly heavy.

This is indeed introspective, but not metal - not in the slightest. Saltillo plays a combination of neo-classical mixed with glitchy and highly distorted electronica.

The primary instrument here is a violin. While it is played nearly throughout the entire album it acts more like a guide to the music rather than the main focus.

By mixing the acoustic beauty of the violin and other classical instrumentation with the deformed percussion and mutilated electronic effects the end result could have been a disaster. The opposite is true though, the music is both beautiful and grotesque at the same time - they are in harmony rather than in opposition with each other. Its quite the intriguing combination.

Monocyte is one of those albums that I enjoy immensely when I listen to it, but after I shelve it I tend to forget that it exists. I wish I revisited this album more often.