NEW ALBUMS REVIEWED | FEATURE
Starting this week, look out every Friday for a roundup of the most noteworthy new gear assessed right here on the Buzz website. Plus there’ll be more track/single reviews, columns, roundups of uncategorisable things that we don’t know what they are yet… for now, enjoy the five below.
CREEPER
Sex, Death And The Infinite Void (Roadrunner)
There’s long been a buzz surrounding Southampton punks Creeper. From the time they emerged in 2014 with an AFI-influenced debut EP, to the point where they ‘broke up’ onstage in proper Ziggy Stardust style, they’ve never been far from the columns of the rock press. But they’ve moved a lot on since then because Sex, Death And The Infinite Void is surely the album that will see them fully realise their full potential.
This is blood-soaked goth-rock theatre that veers between My Chemical Romance and The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, taking in Nick Cave along the way; the addition of Hannah Greenwood as a full-time member has also lent a certain Sisters Of Mercy vibe, which ties in quite nicely with Sisters legend Patricia Morrison’s appearance on the albums opener. Who knew that the natural successor to My Chemical Romance’s goth crown were nestled in Hampshire all this time?
words CHRIS ANDREWS
DANIEL BLUMBERG
On&On (Mute)
When Daniel Blumberg left indie-rock Yankophiles Yuck in 2013, few could have predicted that he would promptly throw himself headlong into the improv scene centred around London’s Café Oto. As the successor to 2018’s lauded Minus, On&On might have laboured under the weight of expectation – but it’s an unmitigated triumph. Like Anna Meredith, Blumberg finds the fertile ground between carefully crafted pop and freewheeling experimentation. His hybrid songs are often held together with little more than trust, an exhilarating leap of faith for the listener as well as the musicians.
Take Sidestep Summer, for instance, which suddenly breaks from a twitchy Waitsian junkyard blues verse into a serene, transcendent chorus. Cyclical motifs and the lyric “I expected that love to be strong and go on, and go on and on and on” suggest the nagging pain of a failed relationship and an inability to move on emotionally. Musically, however, Blumberg has come a long way indeed.
words BEN WOOLHEAD
IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT
Alphaville (Century Media)
These New Yorkers are an extreme metal concern, as the band name and record label may have indicated if such things are your bag, but Alphaville is one of the least conventional takes on it you’re likely to hear. Imperial Triumphant [pictured] take their cues from black and death metal, in a foundational sense – Zachary Ezrin’s vocals arriving in a suitably, demonically low register. Yet in addition to the volley of implausible time changes, like a mecha version of Canadian thrashers Voivod (who are covered at the end of the album, along with The Residents), there is a deeply-held jazz element herein, by which I mean actual jazz chops rather than Meshuggah-type noodling. Although someone from Meshuggah guests on one song here apparently. Huh!
Transmission To Mercury – dig that title – indulges some low-lit noir-y pleasantness before embarking on a blastbeat-led excursion, and the pieces slot together too. There’s (what sounds like) vintage radio crooner samples, Cecil Taylor-type piano parts and Trey Spruance from Mr Bungle produced the whole shebang. Imperial Triumphant are already a bigger deal than they have a right to be, making music this far gone, but this album might be powerful enough to bowl over even timid doubters.
words NOEL GARDNER
MAX RICHTER
Voices (Decca)
Although it might seem like Voices was made for the trouble and strife that we face today, avant-classical maestro Max Richter started working on this album a decade ago. Richter was inspired by the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, which was put in place by the UN General Assembly in 1948 after World War II; the Declaration opens with the words, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.
With readings of the Declaration by If Beale Street Could Talk actress Kiki Layne and help from 70 crowdsourced multilingual contributors, Richter’s orchestral soundscapes have the ability to make grown men weep. All Human Beings is a deeply effective piece of music, as is the beautiful Mercy. Richter’s ninth studio album could not be more apt, and in all honesty, Voices is an extremely powerful piece of work.
words DAVID NOBAKHT
RIVAL CONSOLES
Articulation (Erased Tapes)
If you’re looking for digital music that taps into the head and heart as much as it motivates you to move your muscles, then the latest from Rival Consoles will satisfy. Ryan Lee West is the man behind five albums of electronica that have steadily raised Rival Consoles’ profile to the high point of a live performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra. And although the classical influences may be hard to spot, there is a similar sense of humanity in West’s music that sets it apart.
West started the music making process for Articulation with graphic scores to help stimulate unique responses – much like pioneering composer Cornelius Cardew and Györgi Ligeti, whose piece West references with the album title. Stand out tracks Vibrations On A String and the title track move seamlessly between time signatures and timbres, while the constant bed of sound is interjected by scraps of melody that come and go like thoughts, waiting for some articulation.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
