French multi-instrumentalist and producer Gautier Serre has been operating under the name IGORRR for 20 years now, yet each new record still resounds with a startling freshness and radical vitality. Gautier’s steadfastly unclassifiable and stunning Amen full-length maintains this impact, blindsiding the listener with a new set of exploratory curveballs and continuing to surprise and unnerve even the most attuned enthusiast. The record includes guest appearances by Scott Ian (Anthrax), Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle), and Mike Leon (CKY, ex-Soulfly).
Since signing to Metal Blade in 2017, the IGORRR name has expanded from one man’s pseudonym to become a full group identity, but Gautier remains the project’s guiding light and mastermind, so he’s the best man to ask to describe the indescribable. “This album is definitely darker than its predecessors, it has such a very weighty and solemn vibe that has never been reached before in IGORRR,” explains Gautier. “The fact that I recorded a real choir in a church helped this a lot, but above all there has been very long and meticulous work on the sound and the choice of instruments, and deep experimental research to create a unique sound design. Of course, because it’s an IGORRR album, there are some more colorful tracks, like ‘Blastbeat Falafel,’ ‘ADHD…’ They contrast very much with the ambient heaviness. I need tracks like these on an album, it helps to really get through it fully focused, like a shot of limoncello before the next meal.”
With an urge to continually take IGORRR’s multifaceted and challenging sound further forward with each release, Gautier has spent a lot of time cultivating multiple new modes and methods of working since 2020’s breathtaking, critically acclaimed opus Spirituality And Distortion — which even reached No. 12 on the official German album chart. Gautier has always made clear that IGORRR is as much about the influence of Bach and Chopin as it is about Cannibal Corpse, Aphex Twin, and Meshuggah, but the source of specific stimuli gets harder to ascertain as the process is refined. “It’s always difficult for me to know from where the inspiration comes,” he muses. “Music is an expression of life, and I would say everything, even what seems the most insignificant thing, can be a source of inspiration. I would say there hasn’t been one event or one experience that has led me on a creative process, it’s more like a cumulation of everything. I love making music, my brain processes music all the time. You cannot imagine the amount of albums and concertos I create during my sleep. The challenge is more how to sort these ideas to keep the ones with the best potential, the ones that I won’t get bored of, the ones that I really Love — with a big letter L.”
Watch IGORRR’s previously released videos for “Daemoni,” “Headbutt,” “Blastbeat Falafel,” “ADHD,” and “Limbo” HERE: https://www.youtube.com/@IgorrrOfficial/videos
Preview/purchase Amen at https://eyesoremerch.com/bands/i/igorrr/
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