Subarachnoid Space

Eight Bells

Crucial Blast 2009

Dark sonic textures, throbbing and swirling like streams of black antimatter flood out of my speakers during the opening stages of Lilith, the first track off of Eight Bells by San Francisco's Subarachnoid Space.  The song pulses with thick bass lines and entrancing guitars which flutter sensually from within the sonic tapestry.  As Hunter Seeker begins delicate and manic fretwork strain against bouts of slinky distortion creating a mood of apprehension.  This eventually fades into sparse string plinking and a wash of distant guitar creating a soundscape of calm beauty, a slowly churning see to get lost in as your mind seeks to explore its own nether regions.  As the track busts through the 10 minute mark a sort of space rock jam develops.  My favorite song is Akathesia, with its bouncing urgency and yearning notes that form its first phase.  Slowly but surely the tension is ratcheted up through deft use of tempo and tumbling melody.  A surging cacophony of noise greets you on the minimalist Haruspex before the track descends into barren isolation tinged with an eastern flair leaving lots of breathing space between the dissonant notes.  An insistent bassline drives the sultry dance of album closer Bird Signs.  One cannot help but sway their body as the fat bass throbs and sharp guitar washes crest like a prostitute achieving divinity.  At the 5:38 mark, the song twists into a lumbering leviathan, evil and twisted, a horror of deep space descends earthward.  Though not metal at its core, Subarachnoid Space's dark essence and demented vistas will certainly appeal to an open-minded metaller who seeks new territory for spiritual and cosmic exploration.