Combining metal with the cabaret aesthetic has been attempted a couple times now. The most famous one is probably Diablo Swing Orchestra, whose first two records remain the only examples of the style I would consider recommending without any caveats. There is lots of value in trying to lighten up metal’s tone in creative ways, heavyness does not need to be grimdark or depressed all the time. I don’t think many bands go far beyond the gimmick, though. A particular issue is often that, as soon as the gimmick is established, the actual metal in the brew seems to not matter anymore. Tardigrade Inferno certainly have this problem, but I wish that is where it ended.
Tardigrade Inferno slather a cabaret paint on what is basically nu metal. I am very generous with the avantgarde tag above and am mainly choosing to use it because the band insists to highlight their own extravagance in the promo blurb. The riffage on this EP is almost completely straight up nu metal from the late 90s and you could easily switch out the singer for a rap vocalist, remove the extraneous synth work (often consisting of accordeon or carnival organ) and you’d have something that most metalheads would scoff at. Other tracks sound like bargain bin Rammstein with, again, a different vocal performance. You can tell that the singer is supposed to be the main attraction here, and the EP stands and falls with her. Her performance is certainly expressive and extravagant, but the deranged Daisy Duck-performance is hard for me to take even on the short runtime of this EP. In our promo material, none of the other musicians can even be seen in the supplied pictures and in live performances, they seem to blend similarly into the background. The cynic in me would say that this is a good marketing move in an age where Eastern European, female-fronted metal has become somewhat of a selling point. The reviewer in me says that the marketability doesn’t really amount to a good time.
