NAVENE KOPERWEIS, MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST SAVANT

Dudes like Navene Koperweis — drummer of Animals as Leaders, ex-Animosity, and multi-instrumentalist/mastermind of Fleshwrought — are the reason I put down my guitar and picked up my blogger e-pen instead. Dude is so insanely talented it’s like why would I even waste my time? Instead I’m a keyboard jockey, a supposed pimply-faced teenager crapping my pants in my mom’s basement, hiding behind my screen while I hurl insults at bands infinitely more talented than I could ever be. But hey, wait a minute now… today I’m heaping praise upon someone and using my bully pulpit for good. Hallelujah!

Islander over at No Clean Singing has put together a retrospective of sorts covering Navene Koperweis’ career in metal, short but prolific, and I can’t help but be in awe. It’s a collection of clips paired with a little biographical blurb along each step of the road, and it covers Koperweis from his work with Animosity several years back through this year’s compelling Fleshwrought record Dementia/Dyslexia (which we liked so much we decided to stream the whole thing) of which he was the main creative force.

I was never into Animosity but I can certainly appreciate good drumming when I see it. Anyone who reads this site knows how I feel about Animals as Leaders, so there’s no need to re-hash the ball-fondling here. The most interesting part of the post is a video of Koperweis playing guitar along to the recorded version of the Fleshwrought track “Inner Thoughts.” Koperweis wrote and recorded the album — as in, played all of the instruments — himself, brought in his friend Johnny Davy of Job For a Cowboy to handle vocals, and had a smattering of guest musicians visit the studio for select parts. One of those guest musicians is Alex Rudinger of unsigned Maryland band Ordinance, who you see tracking drums below.

Yeah, Koperweis is that good at guitar too.* Sigh.

-VN

*To the inevitable troll who will say he’s not that good of a guitarist… fuck you.