THIS WEEK’S NEW ALBUMS REVIEWED | FEATURE
Gas Lit (Invada)
A reminder nothing exists in a vacuum, Gas Lit, and the music of Divide And Dissolve in general, feels impossible to separate from wider, self-proclaimed aims to destroy white supremacy and restore indigenous sovereignty. Yer average punter might just think it’s a great rock record of course, and they’d also be correct: being largely instrumental, the music made by Takiaya Reed on guitar and saxophone, and Sylvie Nehill on drums, in its crushing slabs of noise and slow, furious awkwardness, is perfect to either soundtrack 2020’s long trudge of death or nod out to.
Less arid than their previous two albums, Gas Lit opens with teasing, almost drone-like sax notes, before a sudden eruption of sludgy guitars and drums, a hammer in a tar pit. It’s a great trick, disquieting horror that’s repeated throughout the album and gnawed on at various lengths. Elsewhere the sax is dropped, and harsh drum clatter battles purely with thick guitar riffs, drawn out like tapeworms.
Gas Lit does you good, like watching a Holocaust documentary, an impressive work of art rather than something to enjoy. How can a record both obliterate and fill the room? I don’t know, buy your own copy.
words WILL STEEN
Harddwch Du (Later)
This six-track EP from Merthyr-based producer Eädyth and Cardiff collective Ladies Of Rage is nothing short of brilliant: the slickest, smoothest electro-soul sound supporting the words and melodies of a very talented group of womxn. BLM, identity and Covid themes are spat, sang and spoken over deep bass grooves and submerged percussion. The band name may prepare you for the lyrical content, but not for the restrained beauty of the emotional delivery.
Harddwch Du (Black Beauty) is a bilingual, post-style amalgam that makes statements without making compromises, as each contributor brings a style and sound of their own. Streaming these tracks online will only make you want to see this collaboration in the flesh – if that ever happens – because this is music for the club as much as music for the mind.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
The Third Chimpanzee (Mute)
Knowledge of a capuchin monkey, Pockets Warhol, who paints from his Ontario primate sanctuary home and has been commissioned to create the sleeve art for an EP which takes its name from Jared Diamond’s The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution And Future Of The Human Animal book is enough to bring a smile during these dark times.
Monkey business aside, The Third Chimpanzee is arguably the closest Martin Gore has sonically veered towards Depeche Mode territory with his solo projects. Capturing the feeling of a bruised planet rife with tension and chaos, its five electronic instrumental tracks are melodic, abrasive, brutal and experimental, sounding like nothing else out there while bringing to mind the vibe created on the Mode’s Black Celebration album, made within claustrophobic and challenging parameters. At eight minutes plus, Vervet is the majestic centrepiece here, but The Third Chimpanzee’s mere five-track length leaves the listener hungry and hoping for another outburst of creative brilliance from Gore.
words DAVID NOBAKHT
The Future Bites (Caroline International)
In his sixth solo studio album, Steven Wilson comments on the addictions and consumer trends of the 21st century. It’s unclear, though, whether this is a critique of consumerism or a love letter to it. Many of the songs blend prog elements with electronic beats and a touch of funk in a way that is fresh and genuinely enjoyable, thanks to some creative choices for collaboration. David Kosten, whose credits include Bat For Lashes and Everything Everything, co- produced The Future Bites with Wilson; more audaciously, Elton John reads out a shopping list on Personal Shopper.
While fans of the prog element running through Wilson’s career, from his time in Porcupine Tree until now, might be disappointed about the move to this contemporary hybrid style, it’s certainly musically well-done. There’s an awkwardness, though, in mixing his voice, and occasionally morally confused lyrics, in with these almost neo-disco sounds. No matter the context and persona, there’s something a bit uncomfortable about hearing the artist describe himself as an “eminent sleaze” who wants to seduce the listener’s sister, before Elton berates us two tracks later for wanting to buy “lipstick… fake eyelashes… birth control”.
Some advice? Listen to this album on great speakers to enjoy the sonic world Steven Wilson’s voice inhabits loudly enough to distract from his occasionally awkward and perplexing moralising.
words ISABEL THOMAS
Where The Gloom Becomes Sound (Century Media)
A fair chance Where The Gloom Becomes Sound, the fifth album by grandiose metallers Tribulation [pictured – photo credit Ester Segarra], ends up being a watershed release for the Swedes. It was primarily written by Jonathan Hultén, one of the group’s two guitarists, with what sounds like minimal input from his bandmates until the recording stage – and with that completed, Hultén announced in December that he was leaving Tribulation.
It may be that a songwriter claiming to take equal inspiration from Roky Erickson and Morbid Angel – and this is borne out in Where The Gloom…’s lycanthropic psych-hamming and operatically fierce riffs – is a hard act to replace. I wouldn’t bet on it, though: Tribulation’s evolution from lively practitioners of nonspecific ‘extreme metal’ in the late 00s to gothic, puffed-chest anthem writers with the aesthetics of black and death, if not that exact sound, has clearly been a full-band effort. The career arc of previous tour buddies Ghost is worthy of invocation here, although Tribulation lack their pop sensibility.
Production is slick but sharp (I’d have sworn there were synths on half these songs, though none are credited), the better to highlight some fine classic metal guitar heroics: Leviathans and Inanna offering notable highlights in that respect, with a touch of postpunk discord entering via Daughter Of The Djinn. Johannes Andersson’s growl is intense yet fully comprehensible, and though there are some numbers that start to drag after a few minutes or never really catch fire at all, this album offers a distinctive type of modern metal without relying on technology or awkward genre-mashing.
words NOEL GARDNER