“A vacant hospital room to pack.”
Frail Body garnered much respect for their debut, A Brief Memoriam, a heartfelt and heavy tribute to a passed mother, and the tragedy of American healthcare. Guitarist and screamer Paul Shaffer is also involved with fellow Illinois emoviolence band Crowning as their bassist, who have kept busy releasing EPs and splits since their most major release in 2020. But Frail Body are far from a side project – at forty five minutes, their new album Artificial Bouquet is a huge release, especially when you consider their previous LP was a trendy 20 minutes.
There’s all sorts of great musical ideas to be found in Artificial Bouquet. Frail Body songs generally avoid much repetition, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t tension, promise, and resolution within their songwriting. Opener “Scaffolding”’s finds its gravity across the track by resolving within only certain riffs, and only at the fourth measure. In practice, this means you can’t predict where the track is going to take you next, yet you’ll be satisfied by the journey. The most challenging aspect of Frail Body are their vocals, which are inscrutable and shrill, much like Liturgy’s yowls. They’re certainly practised and a great aesthetic match to the band, but I can’t deny there’s a fatiguing quality to them.
Artificial Bouquet tackles lyrical themes similar to the band’s debut. The album shares personal stories of loss that, eventually, all people will relate to through their connections to life and death. “Refrain” processes cremation of a loved one: “And you’re just five pounds of carbon / A vacant hospital room to pack / They’ll need this bed cleared when I get back”. The anger in the performances is perhaps driven by futility weaved into such experiences, spelling out the internal struggle for meaning and permanence. In Devotion this anger is directed to the very top: “Where was god / When you needed him most / Where was god / Why’d he call you back to your post”.
These lyrical themes are matched with unholy fury. Lead single “Refrain” opens on a torrent of fresh riffs and furrowed blast beats. Stepping back after the first minute, a harmonic melody emerges in the mid stretch, doused in additional layers and desperate vocals, finally resolving towards a particularly smashing riff. Other quick tracks like “Monolith” and “Berth” are practically relentless. To make matters even more desperate, the tracks run into one another without care for ebbing reverb or tuning breaks. This means the runtime is used to its full extent.
The most take-your-breath away element of Frail Body has to be Nicholas Clemenson‘s drumming. It’s not just the speed, precision, or force in every blow – the sheer number of ideas he adds to each part makes Artificial Bouquet abundant in character. Bassist Nic Kuczynski compliments this with a crackling performance, tastefully stepping into the higher registers to add sparkle whilst remaining an effective rhythmic component. With all this action it’s as if the guitars are on the back seat much of the time, working with chords that add necessary character rather than technical flourish. Take “No Resolution” as an example: notionally, it’s a moment of reprieve. The guitars provide the basis for a somewhat-ballad, perhaps from a sullen campfire gathering. Instead, the full band turns it into a nail biting trip, rising constantly towards dramatic heights and a furious ending.
Artificial Bouquet is, generally, a very intense album, but does take care to include dynamics amid all the intensity. “Critique Programme” and “Monolith” wrap clean passages into their runtimes. “Runaway” is another dynamic track, starting gently and rising several times toward shuddering blackgaze intensity. The sombre “Another Year Removed” combines gentler guitar, plucked bass and distant piano into a sobering tapestry near the end of the record. It abounds with lovely sound design: the bass becomes fuzzy just as it steps away from the forefront, then a tremolo effect rises to take it back a notch. But with all this ambience is here to serve the record’s flow, as “Another Year Removed” finishes on rising feedback towards the record’s final track. “A Capsule In The Sediment” is a good last hurrah for the record, if you’ve not become exhausted already. It actually subverts the classic screamo finale, using its final moments for a contemplative guitar passage rather than finding some new heights of intensity.
Artificial Bouquet feels like a marathon of modern underground metal. The energy and aesthetic of the band is absolutely “screamo”: a small unit fighting against futility at the tops of their voices. Strong influence from modern black metal, post metal, and plenty of hardcore influence are also evident. Its production is absolutely on point, with recording and producing work by Pete Grossmann at Bricktop Recording (through which have come the recent Pain of Truth, Primitive Man & Full of Hell, and Fireworks records, to name a few), and mastered by Jack Shirley of The Atomic Garden (perhaps best known for his work on Deafheaven’s Sunbather). Some other contemporary releases from Dreamwell or Infant Island could be easier to swallow for those getting into the genre’s new wave, as they offer a wider breadth of sonic ideas and atmospheres. But the pointedly brash sound of Artificial Bouquet is exactly its appeal.
7.5/10
Artificial Bouquet drops through Deathwish Inc. and can be preordered here: US, EU/UK.