It’s Monday and Mondays suck, so let’s grind it out with Seminary’s Automnymous.
For me, the weeks and weekends have only gotten more chaotic. And what better than to match chaos with chaos, no? But something that’s not just a full blown freakout, but something that’s also a maelstrom of technical insanity. And something that also has a dash of the dissonant. Sometimes I ask for a lot, apparently. Luckily Seminary deliver the goods.
For as short, bursting and intense as Seminary are, they know how to make a song go a long way, even when it clocks in at under a minute. Automnymous is the Calgary, Alberta grind wizard’s latest album, released back in January. And like any good grind album, it wastes no time in getting down to the good stuff with opener “Surfeit.” There’s some ambiance, an almost light sounding bit of noise before the distant vocals and lightning fast fret work sink into your ear canals and rattle your brain.
Automnymous moves fast, so don’t expect to digest this in one or two sittings. Seminary are fast, vicious bastards. They’re very much a tech-grind band somewhat in the vein of Gridlink, but without living in their massive shadow. Seminary run their own path and don’t look back. What they pull off with mastery is maintaining a chaotic sound. Pieces like “Pillars of Sulfur” sound like they’re coming unhinged and practically breaking form. But really, the band has it under control.
What’s interesting about this band, their techy-ness aside, is the vocals. They sound like they’re pouring out of the background. Like they were recorded in some cave. It’s what gives the whole album a dissonant feel. And they never feel like they’re fighting for first place. Rather, they sit comfortably back there, while almost having a nervous breakdown. It’s the guitar work that stays at the forefront, with the drums always on their tail.
Seminary, despite sounding very different, still keep a punk undertone. Though it’s definitely not something that is pushed throughout. While a lot of grind bands out there root themselves in punk, Seminary like to remind us. “Cur Eternal”, for example, has a very punk punch kicking it off before it gets noisy, chaotic and even more pissed. However, it falls back into a punk punch mid-song. Like I said, it serves more as a reminder rather than a skeletal frame.
If you need a comparison before you listen to this album, imagine a marriage of Gridlink and Idylls. Take the chaos of the later but discard the post-punk aspects and replace all those with the tech-grind of Gridlink. With that, you’d get something like Seminary’s Automnymous. The album is ultimately unique, but probably not the kind of grind you’re used to. But maybe right now, it’s the kind of grind you need on a Monday.
Thanks to my friend and colleague Austin Weber for turning me onto this band. He hosts the segment Tech-Death Tuesday right here on Metal Injection. If you don’t read that already, you should.
