Lista de Bandas Heavy Metal Six Degrees Of Separation Of Us

When you’re looking for something highly unusual in Metal, you often find yourself looking at Japanese bands. I’m not sure if it’s the weather there or fucked up ancestral traditions that turn them into musical psychopaths but there is no denying that Japanese bands have the knack for giving us some of the weirdest music around here.

On the other hand, Japan is not the only country to come up with weirdos. In Europe, we have our own musical ‘Japanese’ scene. It’s named the Czech RepUblic. Is it because these guys hold the European record for cannabis consumption? Is it because it’s freaking landlocked? We’d have to ask them but with bands like !T.o.o.H! or Likathea Aflame, to name only a few, they’ve proved to be quite the European counterpart of Japanese sub-culture.

Six Degrees Of Separation is no exception to the rule. It’s definitely impossible to come up with labels when listening to this band. They embrace so many styles that it’s dizzying. Some tag it Dark Heavy Metal, some Doom Metal, some (very inspired ones) Thrashy Goth Death Doom and last but not least: Tri Metal. Yes, you read that well, Tri Metal. For those not geeky enough, this is a reference to Zelda video games. As if Link, Zelda's main protagonist, would bang his head while listening to Six Degrees Of Separations.

By now, you should know that whatever I will write are mere words and words sometimes fail to depict the intricacies of a given situation. So many labels and yet most of them are fitting (well, minus the Tri Metal farce…). At times, the music of Six Degrees Of Separation feels like Heavy Metal, at time it’s a bit more Thrash Metal and due to some harsh vocals you get that Black/Death Metal touch added to this. Think also of songs whose construction is rather mind-blowing and you also get an almost progressive feel to it. My only concern would be the "Dark" epithet because I fail to see anything "Dark" or for that matter "Doom" in this kind of music even though from what I’ve read about the band this was more displayed in their earlier material.

Overall, it's very happy music ridden with pop antics which probably makes for exhilarating live shows but the complexities of the songs make that hard to grasp. Of Us is really a singular album and it will take you (it took me) many listens to start to appreciate where the Czech were heading. Something complex and a little bit disturbing but yet with more open-mindedness than most Metal bands would ever display.

I feel like this music, as pop’ish as it can get, is still rather hard to get into and this will probably prevent the Czech monsters from acquiring a more widespread audience. It’s almost as if half the members wanted to go “Devin Townsend” all the way while the other half was trying to make the music a bit more fitted for a larger pUblic. This dichotomy you’ll feel from the very first notes.

In the end, it’s hard for me to say that I really enjoyed this record though I cannot find any flaws except for, maybe, too much in too little a time. Amateurs of experimental and weird sounding Metal will probably revel in Six Degrees Of Separation but the traditional minds will certainly despise it. I guess it's up to you to decide at this point.