Origin:	New York, NY, USA
Genres:	Progressive Metal, Instrumental

Behold ... The Arctopus

With a name like Behold … The Arctopus, song titles containing words like “exospacial” and “amusia”, and no vocals, you can bet this is some pretty out-there music. Colin Marston is no stranger to bizarre metal, as he’s also the bassist in another weirdo instrumental band (Dysrhythmia), but if anything these guys are even more chaotic, at times approaching a vocal-less The Dillinger Escape Plan. And if that wasn’t enough, Marston plays an odd instrument called a Warr guitar (apparently, a 12-stringed beast that one plays primarily by tapping, covering both bass and guitar ranges). There’s some amazing technical musicianship going on, but despite their goal of being an accessible band, they often fall into the same trap that many a technical band has (particularly on early releases), that being that the wizardry overshadows the songs themselves – a bit of groove and restraint could go a long way here. That said, there’s enough musical dexterity to satisfy any tech-metalhead, which is clearly the target audience.