ALBUM REVIEW: Subnormal Dives – Byonoisegenerator

While mixing jazz and extreme music may be old news to some of the more discerning metal fans out there, no band has ever done it like Russian quintet BYONOISEGENERATOR. With abrasive grindcore colliding with avant-garde jazz, the group’s latest album Subnormal Dives is a challenging yet exhilarating experience.

While heavier acts throwing in a sprinkling of jazz isn’t unheard of, BYONOISEGENERATOR take the concept to its logical extreme by stacking unpredictable sax and jazzy drums on top of their harsh grindcore. Their second album Subnormal Dives isn’t for the faint of heart, launching a barrage of chaotic noise at the audience which only rewards the most fearless or masochistic listener.

Take this as your warning, if opening track E♭(D♯) is too much for you it’s not too late to turn Subnormal Dives off and listen to SABRINA CARPENTER instead, if for some reason this mix of blisteringly fast extreme metal and sharp saxophone stabs intrigues you then you’re in for a great time. Breaking up NAPALM DEATH style blast beats and throat-tearing growls with blasts of discordant sax, BYONOISEGENERATOR put their tight musicianship on display across multiple intricate genres in a way that seems effortless, using their jazz chops to enhance their brutal side rather than distract from it. Beneath the waves of eardrum tearing noise lies a band with some legitimately impressive playing, refusing to allow their jazzgrind sound to become a half-hearted gimmick.

As the album continues BYONOISEGENERATOR’s blend of genres continues to reach intense levels of ferocious noise with clashing sounds fighting for attention amidst the cacophony. Tracks such as NULL.state = PERMANENT; return VOID; and NoSuccessToday! take CAR BOMB style mathcore rhythms and turn them up a notch with harsher vocals while injecting them with a hearty dose of ear-splitting jazz, eschewing the typical metal breakdowns for tightly performed PHAROAH SANDERS inspired free jazz sections bolstered by distorted guitars and growling vocals. While the addition of sax player Sh3la is the most obviously jazzy element of BYONOISEGENERATOR’s sound it remains impressive throughout the album how much the rest of the band can transform themselves from a grindcore band to a jazz combo on the fly.

While BYONOISEGENERATOR are hardly aiming for a wide audience, there are a handful of unexpected choices that narrow their target listener into an extremely specific niche. The Saint Anger style trash can snare for example may put off some listeners with its harsh bounce that cuts through the mix like a pickaxe or the oddly placed math rock inspired tapping on deBroglieNeverExisted that sticks out in the jazzy groove in a way that could either come across as intentionally mismatched or a little messy. Although any sane person would be put off well before noticing these small annoyances, the same kind of deranged maniac that would willingly listen to an album as strange as Subnormal Dives is bound to nitpick a few inconsistencies.

Subnormal Dives is the kind of challenging listen that should be included in Navy Seal training programmes, clashing together two already difficult genres into a migraine inducing cacophony. For the tiny fraction of the population who can push past the initial shock of BYONOISEGENERATOR’s sound there’s plenty of tight performances and fascinating musical choices to pick through from the comfort of their windowless padded cells.

Rating: 7/10

Subnormal Dives is out now via Transcending Obscurity.

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