I love Botanist.  That should be evident from the review I had the good fortune to pen of their most recent release, VIII: Selenotrope.  I’m also a pretty big fan of paleontology, as you may have picked up on throughout the years here.  So when I was randomly lurking the planner last night and saw there was a new Botanist release titled Paleobotany, I dropped everything to cover it.  And I do mean that: there was a different review I was supposed to be writing right now (don’t worry, it’s still coming), but this takes precedence in my heart.

If you’re not familiar with Botanist, first of all, what have you been doing with your time?  And second of all, see the above-linked review for a rundown.  To catch you up, although Selenotrope only came out a year ago to the month, Paleobotany is not a solo release like its predecessor, but a full-band effort (as evidenced by the lack of a Roman numeral at the start of its title).  Mastermind Otrebor is still behind the songwriting wheels and still manning the hammered dulcimer that is their trademark instrument, but this time he is joined by newcomers Daturus on drums, Tony Thomas on bass and Mar on vocals.  The latter of them was approached by Otrebor to join the project simply because Otrebor saw him at a club and thought he looked like a metal musician.  And you know what?  He was right.  Mar’s presence on this album helps bring Botanist back to their metal roots, interjecting harsh vocals back into the formula, along with clean and even throat singing.  Musically, Otrebor used Paleobotany to do away with some of the more proggy elements that have been hallmarking recent Botanist releases and get back to basics, with good songwriting at the core of what they do.  Of course, this is still black metal played on distorted hammered dulcimers, so you can’t say there’s *no* progressive elements left, but Paleobotany does very much feel like a black metal album at heart, whereas Selenotrope did not.

The heartbreaking, achingly beautiful sound of the dulcimer, even run through various methods of distortion, will never fail to grip me.  I am not immune to it, and you shouldn’t be either.  Tracks like “When Forests Turned to Coal” “The Impact that Built the Amazon” and “Archaeamphora” deliver the goods in terms of sheer beauty and expression, and cements Otrebor as a master of the instrument.  But in reality, all the performances on here are noteworthy, and it ends up capturing an entirely different vibe than solo Botanist records do.  The jazzy, proggy bass that holds up the low end of the record have shades of BTBAM and other Dan Briggs works that immediately perk my ears up.  The drums are intense and aggressive, leaning into classic black metal attacks of blast beats and fast rolls, and there is more focus on tension and release in the dulcimer and vocal melodies.  And speaking of vocal melodies, if there could be a star of the show besides Otrebor, it would have to be Mar.  From soaring cleans and harmonies, to guttural growls, to genuine throat singing (not an approximation of it), the man has all his bases covered.  “Sigillaria” is a standout track on Paleobotany for this reason.  Especially in the vocals, it reflects that outfits commitments to solid songs first and frills second, and it works supremely well to bring an esoteric topic like extinct genera of spore-bearing, tree-like plants.

A new Botanist is always cause for celebration.  All things taken as equal, Paleobotany marks the 12th overall release from Otrebor and/or company.  And yet, somehow, they still aren’t out of ideas.  The well springs eternal, and as long as new blood and new ideas are brought in, I don’t think it will be too long before we get yet another Botanist release I will drop everything to cover.

-Ian

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Paleobotany is out May 17 on Prophecy Productions.  For more information on Botanist, visit their official website.