Transcending Bizarre? - The Misanthrope's Fable (2010)

Being huge fans of bands that push the envelope, we have been greatly surprised by Transcending Bizarre? and their latest masterpiece: “The Misanthrope's Fable”. In this release the band takes us on a magical journey through their demented collective brain and for 46 minutes be prepared to be blown away by such an intricate and dark creation.

In a time when most bands stick to their styles or play it safe and try to emulate what everybody else is doing, bands like Transcending are clear outliers in a very conformist music scene. Evocating comparisons to the great Arcturus, Solefald, Vulture Industries, Dodheimsgard, etc, Transcending Bizarre? excels at creating truly haunting and creepy songs that have so many layers and textures, making this songs have high replay value. Just by telling you that the album features a full children choir, you can imagine how terrible deranged and beautifully chaotic such a release can be.

Starting the album with the title track, we get a small glimpse into what promises to be a very creepy and mystical album thanks to the classical elements of this song. The band quickly changes gears and mores into Black Metal territory with the track “The Beginning”, and here we get the first glimpse of the terrifying children’s choir. In this track we have a perfect contrast of orchestration, futuristic synths, tight drumming and deranged vocal arrangements, just what the doctor ordered in terms of Avant-Garde Metal.

The overall theatrical feeling to the album is top notch and creates that haunting atmosphere that we have come to love of similar releases. The tempo changes and ‘space-like’ elements presented in tracks like “Realizing the Blindness” create that Arcturus feeling to things and gives this band a huge boost in terms of richness (and darkness) of their sound. And while the band’s singer Kolzak is no I.C.S Vortex or Garm, he does have enough charm and weirdness in him to standout from the countless other vocalists that attempt to singe like the previously mentioned vocalists.

Make no mistake and believe that this album is all fluff and no Metal. Songs like “Envisaging the Ideal Planet” and “The Murders of the Young Ones”, are a clear example of fast paced songs with a good amount of crushing riffs, tight drumming, masterfully crafted solos and aggressive vocals. At some points in this album we actually found ourselves comparing it to the latest Dimmu Borgir release in terms of contrast between majestic orchestrations and brutality.

With some vocals from Bjørnar Nilsen (Vulture Industries), “The Empire of Mind” is probably our favorite song of this album. This track features a good amount of ‘Metal’ elements paired with great vocal arrangements, the children’s choir, and some nice slowdown sections that greatly add to the overall atmosphere of this very enticing song. Our second favorite song has to be the trippy and jazzy even more experimental track “Descarte’s Wrath”.

Closing the album we get the crushing “Broad Daylight Misanthrope”, a song that can easily put Dimmu Borgir to shame (in terms of arrangements and melodic value), and the 3 movement epic “The Return to Nothingness”. As you can imagine, there is no weak song in this release and each track features its own elements that makes them standout from each other.

In general, we have to say that Transcending Bizarre? have managed to produce one of the most impressive releases of 2010 and of all times in terms of the genre. With these 9 high-quality tracks the band will surely get more attention and hopefully some more extensive touring. “The Misanthrope's Fable” is one of those almost perfect releases that will surely be praised by fans of good Metal music around the world, so now that you’ve read this review, go and buy this excellent album since it can’t get any better than this.

Release: November 19th, 2010

Country: Greece