It seems like in all of the instrumental genres, whether it’s jazz, djent, math rock, or prog, the element of competition is sort of a secret ingredient. It’s not necessarily a personal thing, it’s just the spirit of the challenge – who has the sickest riffs? The cleanest technique? The loftiest themes? The weirdest song titles? The most perplexing time-signatures?
Instrumental music also requires a bit of mythology on behalf of the listener – the audience can’t help but fill the spaces for emotional content with their own context and personal experience. Obviously, that’s a beautiful, powerful thing. But we also deeply understand how ambiguity can be misjudged or taken advantage of. In today’s world, it’s worth reflecting on how you’d feel if something you created was used for means you never intended.
But all of this rumination ain’t for nothing – Alpha Male Tea Party‘s latest gives us a striking lesson on how to express more deliberately, and that’s saying a lot for a band many consider to be one of the most accomplished and important instrumental acts of the UK. With Reptilian Brain, and potentially from here on out, they’re no longer instrumental.
Check out the goods below for yourself:
It’s actually pretty wild how diverse the overall scope of the vocals are, considering this is their first foray into an album’s worth of them. Of course there are still some great instrumental stretches, and in a way they become accentuated and elevated like never before thanks to the contrasts with the vocals. “Battle Crab” lets loose like an unholy combination of Sikth and Every Time I Die, but “Probably Just Hungry” and “Sniper’s Dream” almost have a Cardiacs-meets-Between the Buried and Me tinge to them with their heady vocal harmonies.
Overall it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone familiar with the band in any way that they crush it instrumentally, and if you’ve seen their song titles over the years, you already know the lyrics are going to be clever. And after all, we have to remember that their very first song “Depressingly Shit Lunchtime Sandwich” had vocal parts that aren’t totally dissimilar to what’s on the table here. But what you might not be prepared for is the level of realness in Reptilian Brain‘s lyrics. Ben and Tom, usually on bass and guitar respectively, had us holding our breath over the lines from “A Terrible Day To Have Eyes.” While still maintaining some subjectivity, it’s a song that anyone who’s ever been shocked by loss is bound to experience some kind of flashback to, and… yes, that is a compliment. It’s just not a compliment we expected to be giving to the same band that wrote “You Eat Houmous, Of Course You Listen To Genesis.”
As is tradition at this point, it needs to be noted that Reptilian Brain‘s creamy yet chunky mix is a thing of wonder in itself, presenting fans with another well polished gem. When the intent is to make a record the simultaneously returns to the band’s roots while reinventing the wheel, a keen set of outside ears can come in handy, so hats off to Mark Roberts as well for helping capture the prog-y rawness of it all. AMTP put it all out there for this one, and the vulnerability really paid off – don’t be surprised when you see this on those year end lists from music blogs. Ours included.
(Thanks for reading! If you’re looking for more music, check out our Bandcamp compilations here. If you like us, or possibly even love us, donations are always appreciated at the Buy Me A Coffee page here, but if you’re in a generous mood you can also donate to folks like Doctors Without Borders, the PCRF, Charity Water, Kindness Ranch, One Tail at A Time, Canopy Cat Rescue, or Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that could probably use it more – click on their names above to check ‘em out if you’re so inclined. Thanks again!)