Naegleria Fowleri

Naegleria Fowleri is a novelty heavy metal band from St. Johnsbury, VT, USA. The band is noted for using 19-EDO, as well as having an amazon parrot lead vocalist, and a set of AI robotic actuators as a drummer.

History

Naegleria Fowleri started in 2018, with Bostjan Zupancic on guitar and bass, and Luna on vocals. The idea came from Luna squaking while Bostjan rehearsed on guitar or bass. In 2017, Luna was featured on the Bostjan Zupancic: MicroMetal songs "Hi Luna," and "Agents." On 22 March, 2018, Naegleria Fowleri released their debut album "Life Cycle" to extremely polarized reviews. Naegleria Fowleri then went on to be featured on "Microtonal Freedom," an album compilation of microtonal bands recorded to benefit Lyn Ulbrecht.

Tonalities

Naegleria Fowleri uses 19-EDO temperament. Most of the scales used are non-traditional heptatonic or octatonic with at least one key change. Many of the scales used contain both major and minor thirds. Bostjan uses a seven string guitar with the lowest string tuned to "A" = 55 Hz and a five string bass with the lowest string tuned to 27.5 Hz, one octave lower. Luna provides vocalizations ad lib, which are generally atonal in nature, but have also followed along with patterns and melodic lines in the songs from time to time. Luna's recorded parts are minimally edited with use of only a noise gate and compressor.

Reception

Naegleria Fowleri is not widely known, but public reviews have been polarized, with some reviews even being internally conflicted. The band's website explains that the band does not expect to be taken seriously; however, there is a potential to examine the band's music academically through the lens of microtonal music theory, and there is also a potential to examine Luna's performance through the lens of animal psychology.