THE 8BIT DRUMMER DISBELIEF CODE

His mixture of deep growls and penetrating shrieks adds an element of chaotic violence to the tightly coordinated instrumentals. There are vocals on this song and the one that follows, and Mike Apprich belts them out in tight coordination with the polyrhythmic tempos. Once those foundational riffs are announced at the outset, the rest of the song progresses through one improvisational variation on those themes after another, accompanied by an equally inventive progression in Umar Fahim‘s drum rhythms and fills, and Meshuggah-esque start-stop hammering in the bass line.

The song is built around a few dominant riffs - including a memorable 5-note, minor-key passage that reappears often enough to anchor everything else that happens. The title track follows, and it’s more in line with the style of Suspension, except even more assured and cohesive in the songwriting. It begins as a massively heavy, ominous slab of post-rock pounding, enlivened with a recurring melodic lead - and then it comes to a dead stop, followed by a second of complete silence, which serves as a bridge to a completely different rhythm and riff, only to be followed by the return of the original dreadnought avalanche. For anyone familiar with Suspension of Disbelief, it will be a surprise.The band has eased up on the gas pedal but added monolithic, down-tuned weight to the sound. Priest begins with an instrumental called “Ocean of Light”. At least this time there are only three songs to be addressed separately. We find ourselves in a place similar to where Suspension of Disbelief left us - not wanting to review this release song-by-song (which is usually an exercise in tedium) but not knowing of any good way to sum up the music as a whole without sacrificing the fascinating variation that makes the release so noteworthy. This is the kind of music that engages on both a visceral and a cerebral level - it kicks like a pissed-off mule and makes you think at the same time. The more we’ve listen to Priest, the more we’ve found in it, and the more impressed we’ve become. Priest represents another step forward for a band that was already bursting with talent and exceptional creativity. Our confidence in this band’s future was not misplaced. We’ve now been lucky enough to get an advance listen to the three songs on the EP (and a bonus “alternate” version of one of those songs that’s also included). So with all that, it should come as no surprise that we’ve been eagerly awaiting the band’s new EP, Priest, which is scheduled for official release on August 10.

THE 8BIT DRUMMER DISBELIEF CODE

And when we finally got to see The Binary Code play live, as part of the METAL AS ART tour in January, we were blown away by the band’s maturity on stage and the intensity of their performance (as we said here). In an interview that accompanied our album review, we found the band’s guitarist and co-songwriter Jesse Zuretti to be an unusually thoughtful and engaging dude. We thought their 2009 debut album, Suspension of Disbelief, was a remarkably accomplished work, both in conception and in execution (our review of that album can be found here). We’ve made no secret about our admiration for The Binary Code.

The 8bit drummer disbelief