Octopus

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ctopus describe their music as “Norwegian Fisherwoman Metal”. If that sounds prog, Octopus are progressive, but in the mode of Sabbath, rather than Pink Floyd; they’re avant-garde in the manner of Lightning Bolt, rather than La Monte Young. Octopus make exciting, unpretentious music that calls on the popular tradition of metal, not the muted modishness of the art school. This band has revolutionary energy. Going to an Octopus gig can be intimidating — the two musicians (Liz Matthews on drums, Beth Dawson on guitar) play at a deafening volume. But as demonstrated on Black Ink, this volume and exuberance isn’t deployed meaninglessly: many of Octopus’s songs are tales, novelistic pieces, rock operas without any loss of primitive energy, yet with the opera’s emotional space. Octopus plumb the depths of tradition to build a bed of noise, but their poetic vision is levitated far above the surface of the sea. [A+] Maryann Savage

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