Wall of Sound PR

Experimental progressive metal/jazz/classical trio VORONOI are pleased to reveal their new single ‘Robots As Pathos/Menace’, which is out now on all good DSPs.

Stream and share: https://smallpond.lsnto.me/robots

The single is the latest track to be taken from the forthcoming album The Last Three Seconds, set for release on 7th May 2021 via Small Pond and Art As Catharsis.

Commenting on the track, which deals with themes of artificial intelligence, keyboardist Aleks Podraza says: “Robots as Pathos and Robots as Menace are two terms coined by the author Isaac Asimov, and are the two categories that he assigns tales about AI to. The former is the more common—and the more interesting in his opinion—and is about AI as the victims of humankind. The latter is the opposite, in which AI is the wrongdoer in a story. HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey perfectly depicts an arc that encapsulates both of these ideas.”

“I wanted to reflect these ideas in the track, with the melancholy intro representing the tragedy of AI, and the carnage of the main meat of the song representing AI as an evil entity. I played around a lot with rhythm on this track, particularly the last riff, where Tom’s cymbal is playing every 7th semiquaver whilst the groupings from the riff before are sounded underneath. I’d not heard this done anywhere else before, and the idea of it got me pretty stoked! I tried to channel the old Black Sabbath philosophy of just having a tune that was back to back riffs. It’s a really simple way of writing, but I think it works so well. There’s a lot going on in this track. I’m only scratching the surface. I’ll leave it up to you guys to pick it apart.”

Forming off the back of contemporary jazz outfit Zeitgeist, Voronoi take the power and rhythmic complexity of heavier prog-metal and fuse it with the sophistication of classical music and jazz. A passion for science fiction thematically drives the band’s heaving and chopping style, whereas artists such as Autechre, Car Bomb, Tigran Hamasyan and J.S. Bach helped to shape the rigid, experimental structure of The Last Three Seconds.

“Compositionally and stylistically we have moved into much heavier territory than our contemporary jazz foundations,” says Podraza. “It really shows. If you were to put this record against the first tunes we played together as Zeitgeist, it would be like introducing a much less capable Thelonious Monk to a less hectic Dillinger Escape Plan.”

Those following Voronoi’s career will need little convincing on the quality of The Last Three Seconds. Collectively, band members have performed and recorded with groups like The Cinematic Orchestra, KOYO, NJYO, Jenova Collective, The Often Herd, Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip, Wandering Monster and more. This in turn has garnered sizeable attention at festivals such as Leeds and Reading Festival, Download Festival, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club – not to mention Voronoi’s thrashing set at 2019’s ArcTanGent.

Tracks from the album have so far received support from heavy experimental music champions including VISIONS Magazine, Fecking Bahamas, Echoes & Dust,Noizze and more, with the cool and collected chaos of The Last Three Seconds serving as a snapshot of this live energy, as passion and fury hum at the end of every complex composition.

From start to finish, the record is nothing less than executed perfectly, undoubtedly appealing to even the most seasoned of prog-lovers. 

‘Robots As Pathos/Menace’, the third single from new album The Last Three Seconds, is available to stream now. The full album releases on 7th May 2021 on Small Pond Recordings and Art As Catharsis.