Sham Duvet

LAFCADIO is a band growing out of metal's deep-rooted traditions of darkness, noise, and riffage, but they're always somewhere on the outer edge of ritual and convention. The Indianapolis based 4 piece add new options to the prog/math sound. Their wide array of influences (from King Crimson to Mike Patton; Melvins to Don Caballero) fuse and recombine into a new-synthesis---like some kind of psycho-symphonic experimental cockrock-core. With their debut album, Sham Duvet, the group has embedded narrative toys with the troublesome dichotomy between religious epiphany and schizophrenic dementia. The epic protagonist, 'Sham Duvet', is a neurotic/ prophetic figure with a messiah complex. Is Sham really a psychopath? Are his messianic ambitions ultimately hallucinations? Of course they are. This isn't the ethereal lute-song of Handel's Messiah symphony. This is fucking metal.   LAFCADIO delivers their songs with a brutal elegance, but they don't shy away from manic absurdity and the clownish aspect of doom. Sham Duvet is speckled with the humorous and the absurd; giving this prog-math-metal group a sense of authenticity. The music is conceptual but not contrived.   This album has a big concept; but the main point is: it rocks. Don't let the framework fool you---the point is to bang your head, not think with it.