Botanist – VI: Flora
It’s so great to experience new findings when it comes to metal music. I’ve been listening to this wonderful genre for many years and writing about it for over a decade and still there is so much to find out and this makes me hopeful. I say this because I didn’t know Botanist, I had heard the name before, but never the music and I’m ecstatic. Everything is so interesting about this band, not only the music, but the whole concept behind it. Allow me to quote a few words from Botanist so that you know a bit more about them, if you don’t already:
“The songs of Botanist are told from the perspective of The Botanist, a crazed man of science who lives in self-imposed exile, as far away from Humanity and its crimes against Nature as possible. In his sanctuary of fantasy and wonder, which he calls the Verdant Realm, he surrounds himself with plants and flowers, finding solace in the company of the Natural world, and envisioning the destruction of man. There, seated upon his throne of Veltheimia, The Botanist awaits the time of humanity’s self-eradication, which will allow plants to make the Earth green once again.
Botanist’s message is of hope, of faith in the power of the Natural balance, one that transcends humanity’s self-seen importance and places us all in a truer place in the universal picture. Botanist believes that although mankind is destroying the Earth’s natural environment, humanity cannot destroy Nature permanently. Humanity can destroy Nature only for humanity, meaning that even if all life, including humanity, has been eradicated, Nature will bounce back. Something will exist out of nothing, just as it always has, and that something will exist whether humanity is a part of it or not.
Botanist believes the world is the most valuable thing in the world. The most essential thing. Nature offers the truest, most tangible vista into the face of the divine, whose unnamable, unknowable existence is reflected through our natural environment. If we want to enjoy this world, to venerate it, to thrive within it, we must respect it, we must protect it, even if it’s only for our personal benefit. If we don’t, if we annoy the Earth enough, the Earth will kill us and move on. What choice will we make?”
And now I shall share my thoughts with you concerning the album “VI: Flora”, released in 2014. It’s amazing, so beautiful and chilling. The music is original, creative and imposing. The whole experimentation that goes on is simply gorgeous and tastefully done. There’s a haunting atmosphere, but, in a way, the album calmed me down. It’s really interesting this duality, of being this “avant-garde metal project that used distorted hammered dulcimers as its primary instrumentation” and, at the same time, I feel that the music is serene, atmospheric, almost comfortable to my ears. The music itself presents lots of experimentations, black metal and post-rock influences. But, have in mind that this isn’t just another “post-black metal” band; Botanist has created its own path, its own genre. And this is superb.
Unique, interesting, alluring and remarkable, “VI: Flora” is an album that deserves all the praise and more attention from metal listeners. The production of the album is also to be exalted as well. I ask you all to support this band the way that is possible for you. It needs to be heard by more people. Botanist’s “VI: Flora” is a groundbreaking experience that has impressed me in a way that hasn’t happened for a very long time.
Have a good day!
Grade: 10/10
Band: Botanist
Album: VI: Flora (2014)
Label: The Flenser
Tracklist:
1. Stargazer
2. Callistemon
3. Cinnamomum Parthenoxylon
4. Gleditsia
5. Rhizophora
6. Dianthus
7. Leucadendron Argenteum
8. Pteridophyte
9. Wisteria
10. Erythronium
11. …Gazing…
Botanist is:
Otrebor, D. Neal, R. Chiang, A. Lindo, Balan
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Verdant.Realm.Botanist/
Official Website: https://botanist.nu/
All photos belong to their rightful owners.
October 22, 2014