Demikhov – The Chemical Bath LP

We have some noisy music today, and I admit it’s been a while since we had anything remotely close to Demikhov on our pages. To those unfamiliar with this band, Demikhov is an Italian trio from Desenzano Del Garda, and their sound defies any categorization into simplistic musical terms. The Chemical Bath is more than a solid proof of my statement because it shines bright with many brilliant moments from scratch to finish. But before I delve deep into this material, let me describe the visual appearance of this album. Demikhov paid so much attention to the packaging, and it will unquestionably appeal to anyone who’s even remotely into underground music. The standard black vinyl comes housed in a black protective sleeve, and that’s the only thing that looks classic here. However, the remainder of the packaging is mindblowing. You’ll be blown away by the thick record folder made of avana paper, printed with double technique, digital printing for majority of the cover, and manual screen printing for golden color. Each part looks good, but the front cover is ultimately divine, with all these assorted illustrations printed in black, beige, and maroon tones. Those thick grungy gold ornaments give it an extra kick, so if you ever liked that old-school post-hardcore, metalcore, noise rock album covers, this visual identity will be right up your alley. Demikhov also included an inlay sheet with collage-a-like sorted photos, info, and lyrics, while the other side reveals a giant logo.

The Chemical Bath carries six powerful compositions entirely performed in Demikhov’s way. Some readers might argue if this material is more appropriate as a 12″ EP or if it’s a full-length release. Considering the length of the particular numbers, The Chemical Bath unquestionably falls under the full-length tree. Soundwise, Demikhov is a diverse band that incorporates many music genres in order to achieve the desired sound. You’ll notice how post-hardcore, mathcore, post-metal, noise rock, noisecore, doom, sludge, shoegaze, harsh noise, industrial noise, drone, ambient, field recordings, and many others inspired these guys to create such an incredible album. They undoubtedly lean much more towards the experimental and avant-garde side, where the dark, obscure, eerie ambiance continuously lurks around. However, Demikhov are good at incorporating their ultimately progressive orchestrations into that particular ambiance. Therefore, The Chemical Bath embraces only the best of both worlds, and this material will appeal to anyone into heavy and experimental underground music.

Their experimental side is profoundly complex. It consists of multiple layers, flawlessly recorded and assembled to fit the mentioned ambiance. These are situations where their affinities with harsh noise, industrial noise, drone, field recordings, and other avant-garde genres shine bright in the mix. Perhaps their experimental side might be way too much for some listeners, but The Chemical Bath intents to tickle all your senses and force you to think. You’ll also notice Demikhov are not joking around with their aggressive side either. They fully stacked this material with many impressive technicalities, virtuosities, melodies, and harmonies, and there are heavy, powerful, aggressive riffs to back up all these orchestrations throughout the entire album. Still, if that’s not good enough for you, there’s a layer of thick, dense, low-end tones right beneath the layer of guitars, but don’t let that fool you. The bass guitar plays a significant role as much as the guitar. Of course, nothing would sound so profoundly good without exceptional drumming performance based upon complex rhythmic structures, various accentuations, fills, and other percussive acrobatics. Every single piece of this sonic puzzle sounds tremendous from scratch to finish. It’s challenging music that seeks your utmost attention. The Chemical Bath is available directly from the band. Head to their Bandcamp page for more information about ordering.