Album Review: Client/Server – Hexentanz With No End (Self Released)

Formidable riffs, cavernous rhythms and soaring dreamlike vocals shake the streets of Tokyo and combine to form post-metal doom band Client/Server.

(un)Known as a noise/ambient band from Boston, the group was founded in 1999 by married duo Tom (formerly of punk/annoy band PigseX) & Jennifer (formerly of electronic-beat unit Hard Luck Woman Movie). During this era, they released two albums.

In 2008 the couple moved to Tokyo and took a hiatus until 2012. Switching genres, they took up guitars and made a less chaotic yet still noisy music they named Tokyo Dronecore.

After releasing their third album in 2015, they performed a liveshow where they re-interpreted songs by Black Sabbath. The experience changed Client/Server’s approach to a heavier riff-driven music style.

In 2019, Hiroshi (formerly of speed-metal band Go Blank After Death) joined the group on drums and influenced them to take a more structured approach to their song writing. Unfortunately, less than a year later, Corona spread across Asia and forced Client/Server to cancel a tour and take yet another years-long hiatus.

In winter of 2022 the band was contacted by Sumireko (formerly of post-metal solo project EXPIATOR), who joined the band as the vocalist. Her otherworldly voice blends in with the murky, trampling sound of the strings and percussion to create Client/Server’s current sound.

Client/Server’s first release as a four-person band is called ‘Hexentanz With No End’ and it was released on September 1st, 2023.

How to describe the sound that Client/Server expel? To sum up in a certain number of words, the unique soundscape they create. To express the depth to their post-doom sound and make it clear that this is a stunning example of creativity.

It starts by saying that this is music with weight, yet it is contrasted by the lightness of the vocals that are both powerful and vulnerable sounding. Dripping in dark atmosphere, the abstract nature of Client/Server’s post makes for an unusual experience, but then you have to take into account the dominance of doom, and it is doom that dominates.

For all the oddities that make up this record, and there are plenty, the over-arching focus is still with the doom. Doom that reverberates through the mind, body, and soul, monumentally heavy, slow and severe, it exacts a high toll, but it is so interesting to hear.

This album features just four tracks, but four is all you need as Client/Server pour so much into each track. It’s an exhaustive listen, where something like Vessel, which is around five and a half minutes long, can have a similar effect as something like Hexentanz, a track that is nearly thirteen minutes long. Enigmatic and enormous, Client/Server leave you feeling this music long after it has begun to dissipate from the memory.

Client/Server – Hexentanz With No End Track Listing:

1. Hatless Axeman
2. Vessel
3. Hydration
4. Hexentanz

Links

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