I’ve never been known as the “noise guy” – give me a solid rockin’ foundation any day of the week. Hell, give me odd syncopations and un-common time signatures and I’ll make a meal of it. Give me a cacophony of colliding sounds and I’m not sure what to make of it. So why the draw to a band like 夢遊病者, loosely translated to Sleepwalker, who not only pushes the extent of noise and extreme metal but excels in making the kind of sonic collage whose very intent is to put you ill at ease? I have no idea, but since first hearing their 2016 release 5772 (on cassette, no less) I was taken. Skopofoboexoskelett is the band’s latest EP, and it continues the trend of using black metal as a springboard to jarring, emotive auditory nightmares. If I’m being overly flamboyant with my language, that’s because I’m still wrestling with how to even describe what I’m hearing.

Maybe the best comparison I can make is to the album art. The sound of Skopofoboexoskelett is the sound of that alien mollusk-looking entity that adorns the album art. There’s the hint of space rock mixed in with all the droning guitars, twitching electronic effects and depth of Hell growls. But there’s a strange beauty there, too – one that seeps under my skin. And where previous albums like 2018’s 一期一会  (One For a While) would corner me with specific section or passages like the crazy prog section found within “If Return – A Mirror Glance” I find that it’s the entirety of Skopofoboexoskelett that puts me under its spell. nestled among the more traditional rock instruments are dulcimers, saxophones, harmonicas… there’s a didgeridoo in there as well. But where other bands like Negura Bunget would use those instruments to emphasize certain local musical styles, 夢遊病者use them to further push into territories where things like melody and structure have only a loose hold. Ambient and jazz passages brace against furious metal and drone; out of the maelstrom comes a beautiful, sonorous guitar that falls away into a classical string arrangement.

I’ve read reviews and interviews (like this one) where terms like musique concrète are thrown around, and I think where it all leads me is to musical scholarship. Embedded in the music of 夢遊病者 is a sense of history, deep knowledge of form that allows the band members to explore enfettered across multiple genres and ideas. Over the last few days I’ve been putting this on, aiming the speakers at my head and just floating away, the dissonance and violence of passages lulling me into just as much a state of relaxation as the quieter moments. Which is anything but passive – the density of the music on tracks like “Mirrors Turned Inward” and the gorgeous creeping closer “The Bad Luck That Saved You From Worse Luck” force me to concentrate so as to pick apart individual elements, finding the space between instruments and feeling the music on a deeper level.

It’s lovely in its horror, and I find I can’t turn away.