In all of French black metal, you would be hard pressed to find a stranger and more depraved gang than Diapsiquir. Formed in the mid-90s and with several supremely bizarre discs of industrialized, experimental black metal under their belt, this band is the creation of mastermind Toxik Harmst, also a member of the latter-day lineup of fellow French BM terrorists Arkhon Infaustus. It's been six years since the last time that Toxik H. and Diapsiquir came out with a new full length (2005's Virus S.T.N.), and from the sound of their latest A.N.T.I. (which stands for "Amer Nerveux Toxique Instable"), it appears that they had completely lost their minds in the interim. Long in possession of onw of the widest weird streaks in all of French black metal, Diapsiqur have outdone even themselves with this new album of depraved, opiate-laced vision, mashing together weird French hip-hop with violent black metal riffs, drk jazz and broken electronic rhythms, grandiose theatrical music and sinister industrial overtones casting shadow across passages of acid-pop brilliance, and furious metallic punk together into a delirious vision of Satanic excess.

The bizarre industrial metal and carnival music of the first track begins the album in a drugged delirium of chaotic energy that, after a minute or so, suddenly veers off into a very weird French hip hop jam, the drunken flow of ther lyrics combining with another vocalist who delivers his lines in an inebriated channson style, as the fluttering guitar and broken breakbeats shuffle along languidly, then spinning off yet again into more oddball industrial metallic chug, squelchy synthesizers, childlike female vocals, traditional French folk music played on acoustic guitars, the music constantly shape shifting every few moments. The singer often belts out his vocals in a weepy, impassioned croon, and when those sung vocals appear, the band invokes visions of some fucked fusion of Serge Gainsbourg, Mr Bungle and the most spastic, freaked-out fringes of French black metal.

Then, with the second song "Peste", the band delivers a catchy, ominous pop song, blackened guitars underscoring the vocal hooks and driving dark alt rock, sliding into woozy doom-laden heaviness, more of that crazed hip-hop flow over slow, dissonant black metal riffing, wild bursts of white soul, soulful trumpets and tinny tremolo riffs, and multiple vocalists wailing all at once. It's intoxicating and delirious, and actually really similar to late-era Manes, but even more bizarre and schizophrenic than those guys ever were. From there, grim electronic ambience leads into tangles of wrecked guitar noise and glorious church choirs of he short interlude "Fuel", then transforming into the evil damaged jazz/blues doom of the title track. The song "Ennui" brings more of that frantic French pop to a battery of blastbeats, lurching circus-metal riffs, haunted pipe organs. folk guitar, and "Seul" is one of the catchiest songs on the album, starting off as a kind of melodic punk but evolving into something intensely debauched. The rest of the album is as unpredictable, constantly slipping from the furious hip-hop flow into a ragged industrial breakbeats, vicious dissonant guitar parts reminiscent of Blut Aus Nord forming into mutant pop hooks, an evil, perverse agenda tangible beneath the almost joyous genre-smashing insanity. I know that many of you will see the hip-hop references and have an immediately negative reaction, but the way that Diapsiquir blends this sound into their blackened industrial psychosis works perfectly to create the atmosphere of urban filth and decay that is synonymous with their sound. Fucking genius - unlike anything else, although fans of Manes and Carnival In Coal fans should definitely check this out....