Audiopile Review: In many cases, we’ll take ideas over execution, no question. Give us a spirited amateur over a jaded pro. But sometimes, the execution is so damn good it makes you realize the ideas are way better than you originally thought. A lazy critic might dismiss Montreal trio Big Brave as (flinch) ‘hipster metal’. Just an indie rock band with doom metal stylings, right? If that lazy critic gave them a listen, Big Brave’s absolute commitment to the bit would immediately decimate any smarmy preconceptions. Fact is, the genres Big Brave plays with are mere vessels for conveying a soulfully atmospheric, and frankly unique, aesthetic. This has never been more evident than on ‘A Chaos of Flowers’. Here we get a band at the peak of its powers, dripping with confidence, and sounding like nobody else on earth. And even if you still hear it as primarily an indie-doom hybrid, ‘Chaos of Flowers’ unerringly delivers on both fronts. Heavy as hell with heavenly melodicism and a fearlessly expansive vision, the results are undeniable. Heck, even if you do not care for either of those genres, you’d have to be rocking a wooden heart and tin ears not to fall hard for the titanic beauty of ‘A Chaos of Flowers’.

A Chaos Of Flowers is an album that builds on their ferocious 2023 album nature morte. BIG|BRAVE’s music has been described as massive minimalism. Their fusillades of textural distortion and feedback emphasize their music’s frayed edges as much as its all-encompassing weight. The potency of the trio’s work is their singular artistry combining elements of traditional folk techniques and a modern deconstruction of guitar music. Gain, feedback, and amplitude are essential. For A Chaos Of Flowers guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie drew heavily on the poems of artists whom Wattie found kinship in, their words resonant with experiences of those often sidelined by cultural norms. “I discovered that most poems from folk traditions or in the public domain seem to be by men – to which I could not quite relate. In my search, I rediscovered some of my favorite works and poets,” says Wattie. Guitarist Mathieu Ball and drummer Tasy Hudson help Wattie shape poetry into pieces as dense and impenetrable as they are vulnerable. BIG|BRAVE achieve their colossal sound through minimalist approaches, a deft understanding of dynamics and an inventive employment of percussion and distortion. The trio reconceptualize what it is to be heavy or minimal, challenging perceptions with their illumination of painfully overlooked perspectives.