[TR24][OF] 6Exhance - Et In Cacophonia Ego - 2023 (Electronic, Punk, Sludge Rock, Free Hardcore, Jazz-Core, Noise Rock)

foobar2000 2.0 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2024-11-02 07:15:38
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Analyzed: 6Exhance / Et In Cacophonia Ego
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DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
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DR6       -0.70 dB    -7.62 dB      6:24 01-Nourrir
DR6       -0.70 dB    -7.64 dB      6:32 02-Feuler
DR6       -0.70 dB    -7.85 dB      4:43 03-Ahaner
DR6       -0.70 dB    -8.17 dB      4:27 04-Sourdre
DR5       -0.70 dB    -7.04 dB      4:15 05-Nosographier
DR9       -1.45 dB   -11.75 dB      4:06 06-Minauder
DR6       -0.70 dB    -7.49 dB      4:26 07-Péroraisonner
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Number of tracks:  7
Official DR value: DR6
Samplerate:        96000 Hz
Channels:          2
Bits per sample:   24
Bitrate:           3227 kbps
Codec:             FLAC
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Belgian trio, 6Exhance, formed in 2021 when three veterans of the country’s experimental music scene booked a rehearsal room and jammed the night away like mad scientists. We can guess that they bonded over a shared love of Caspar Brötzman, Naked City and Gorguts and a passion for the soundtracks of TV detective dramas from the 1970s. Like soldiers who never discuss their body count, they won’t have wasted any time talking about their time at music college apart from a few networking anecdotes. Time is precious when the free jazz spirit summons you to remake it in the image of a metal band. Pretentious this is not, but pressing? Yes.
An automated warning siren gives way to an overspill of shredding drums, busy guitars, and forceful saxophones in opener, ‘Nourrir’, as if somebody asked three musicians in separate rooms to play music without visibility of each other. The shrill of Peter Verdonck’s saxophone sounds like a comedy horror motif. Kjell De Raes adds his drum fills the way a French chef adds celery as a basic stock to his dish. This machinery works well enough to manufacture goods but for how much longer can it operate with so many competing pressure points? A refreshing introduction of blood-thirsty death metal vocals at 02:20 adds yet more stress to the pot. Listen how the drums accent the arbitrary scale runs of the electric guitar – it’s a powerful distortion that steams from the amps.
You’ll find plenty of chugging among the embroidery of the guitar patterns in ‘Feuler’. Kjell De Raes uses this an opportunity to create his own live drum clinic for those listeners searching for a sub-plot. The sax sounds like a backwards guitar solo at its lowest pitch of expression. Though the drums appear complex, you can hear how 6Exhance’s sticksman avoids inserting a groove in favour of accenting the scale-patterns with extended rolls rather than a common beat. Riffs linger in the mid-section of this song like a tenant with an eviction notice approaching its expiry date.
An analysis of David Jean Nokerman’s riffs reveals a taste for discordant rotations and frenetic jazz-fusion shred fills. Think Gorguts meets Allan Holdsworth. Adding vocals in this cacophony of chaos seems superfluous on first listen, but they enhance the unorthodox aggression of the music. Is there a formula to this free jazz approach to metal? ‘Ahaner’ is worth a case study. On the surface, the guitarist comes up with a riff, the drummer uses this as a reference point and then expands the chops he learned in music college. The bass is an extra lining rather than a unique personality in the mix. You feel like you’re listening to a malfunctioning pinball machine at the end. Page Hamilton of Helmet would love to jam with these guys.
The call-and-response death metal vocals at the beginning of ‘Sourdre’ are a welcome focal point as the drummer lays down a regular but frantic beat wrapped in constant tension. Where is the release? The saxophone soloing is always in a rush, like a waitress with fifteen customers to serve at once. We know the answer for drummers, but why do death metal guitarists love jazz? Is it because it’s one final step of advanced learning that’s less enjoyable than fretting a meaty riff but more pleasing as a piece of mastery? You’ll reach ‘Nosographier’ and wonder when the trio will take us through the metropolitan streets of the 1970s as detectives in a Belgian city that needs cleaning up? Screaming saxophones and distorted guitars go together like turkey and stuffing – you wouldn’t eat them on the same sandwich every day, but they tickle the taste buds when you do.
As a listener, you can play this as background music or experience it under intense concentration – that’s the enlightening secret of Et in Cacophonia ego. We sometimes hear of long-term fears that metal will go the same way as jazz as a niche genre for advanced musicians and independent-minded adventurers who care nothing for pop culture. Would this be a bad thing? The musical world is a better place for the existence of this record even if it never becomes a footnote in the history of experimental art.

David Jean's Nokerman - guitars, compositions, bass
Peter Verdonck - vocals, saxophones
Kjell De Raes - drums