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Bloody Panda: Pheromone

06/08/09 || Khlysty

In his great wisdoom, Daemenomania decided to rechristen yours truly as “Dronebone”, a moniker which I accept with joy and grace. Yessssssss, friends and foes, I like my music slow, crushing and subwoofer-damaging; I like it to slowly liquefy bones, muscle and cartilage with its gravitational pull. BUT, I also like it to have this little something that won’t let it become a yawn-fest: simply put, I like it to have character. So, with all that in mind, one should not be at all surprised with my choice of reviewing for GD Bloody Panda and their uneasy merging of extreme doom and avant-garde, as it is presented to the great unwashed within their first record, called “Pheromone”. Now, as you know, pheromones are the hormones exuded by living organisms to sexually attract their kind and ensure the continuation of the species; but, try as I might, I cannot imagine any humanoid copulating with this record as background music. This is VERY disturbing music, of a kind that causes nightmares and helps antidepressant-producing companies to earn big dough.

The four longish tracks that comprise “Pheromone” are based on the great tradition of drone-doom: slowly evolving riffs, lots of distorted and downtuned power chords, drawn-out song lengths, minor variations on the basic song theme/riff, slower than glacier-movement tempos…you know, the works. The secret weapon of Bloody Panda, that which differentiates them from the lot of droners/doomsters of today is their front-woman, Mlle Yoshiko Ohara. For the record, Ohara is not a singer, but a well-known – in Japan, at least – visual artist, who went to NYC and formed Bloody Panda by placing an advertisement in which she sought members to form “the biggest band in the world” (her own words).

Anyway, her vocal approach toward doom metal is wholly unique and is based on almost atonal singing-chanting, with less-than-zero regard towards the music. She seems – to me – to be influenced by Oriental religious chants and her presence add a very bizarre twist to the music. Of course, she doesn’t confine herself only to this approach: she also utilizes – very effectively – high-pitched screams of the blood-curdling, nightmare-inducing kind, while the band backing her seems to know when to add a little flava to the mix, either through song dynamics, or through little touches of orchestration (e.g. the use of organ in one song, etc). Production-wise, “Pheromone” comes out strong and full of personality, adding to the merits of the record.

As for the bad news, well, it IS drone-doom, so don’t expect any great surprises music-wise. Also, the whole thing does exude an almost imperceptible, but definitely “there”, sense of pretentiousness (the half-in-Japanese-half-in-English lyrics, the whole “biggest band in the world” thingy, the advertised jazz-past of some of the band members, you know…), which makes me think of the most pretentiousness-reeking works of indie bands like Sonic Youth. In the end, I can’t shake the feeling that the metal vein of the band’s music is just skin-deep, lacking the fundamental rage and power that characterizes heavy music. But, all these are suppositions that will be proved or disproved in the near-future (the band has a new record that’s gonna hit the stores on August).

The bottom line is that, for what it is, “Pheromone” is a pretty intriguing and disturbing listen. This is doom metal with a twist and I suppose that anyone with even a passing interest in the genre should give Bloody Panda a look. What they have in store is pretty interesting.

7,5

Information
Released: 2007
Label: Level Plane Records
Website: www.bloodypanda.com
Band
Yoshiko Ohara: vocals
Josh Rothenberger: guitar
Bryan Camphire: bass, backing vocals
Blake McDowell: organ, synth, backing vocals
Dan Weiss: drums, tabla, percussion

Tracklist
01. Untitled
02. Coma
03. Fever
04. Ice

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