On first listen (and in the words of the oft revered Maggitooth)…
DEVASTATING.
You are all a bunch of girls for prefering Jesu over this - it must be said.
Like early Swans meets Merzbow meets Wolf Eyes meets Techno Animal. And then twice fucked over. A wall of noise meets a wall of suffering.
My head is still swimming.
Holy terror in our midst. !!. Let it burn then. Corpses. Maggots. Pissed and frightened. Fresh roadkill by the dozen. Packed up and left. Circuits fried. Begged more for still warmth. Received nothing in return. In circles trusted and then forgotten. A black armed minion. Here we step and over. Our bodies twisted. White hot coal burned an ember. We laughed and it bled. Point the finger at sister. Buying whores for family picnics. It stank. Listen with prejudice and tear small wounds in non believers.
do you often find yourself stuck in front of the mirror because you have lost track of which is the image and which is really you? Too terrified to move because you are not quite sure if you will vanish once the mirror is out of sight?
Late,
grmpysmrf
First listen was after a long day and I zoned out into a lucid state of half-awake/half dreaming while on the third track. The whole album played through and took my mind down some uncomfortable valleys. So, it’s definitely music that puts me in the same monolithic trance as GOD, Scorn or even some Loop. Meaning it’s not relaxing in any traditional sense but the elements make it a great nocturnal choice…
The bass is the main force of this album, it’s aggressively sinister tone has been creeping on me. It’s heavy enough that it doesn’t need giant beats all the time accompanying it. Infact, the drums here seem subdued for the most part, with loud rides and cymbals providing nice punctuation for the real focus of these works: soundtracks that very successfully conjure up uncomfortable imagery.
Not even going to to try and compete with your creative reactions. I like it a lot, and I think it’s easier to enjoy if go into the record without expecting full structured “songs”.
do you often find yourself stuck in front of the mirror because you have lost track of which is the image and which is really you? Too terrified to move because you are not quite sure if you will vanish once the mirror is out of sight?
Only when I’m not recommending DEVASTATING new releases like Grey Machine.
ANd yes, as someone stated…this is definitely taking me down some dark alleyways.
[reply]do you often find yourself stuck in front of the mirror because you have lost track of which is the image and which is really you? Too terrified to move because you are not quite sure if you will vanish once the mirror is out of sight?
Only when I’m not recommending DEVASTATING new releases like Grey Machine.
ANd yes, as someone stated…this is definitely taking me down some dark alleyways.
I’ll go willingly…[/reply]
fair enough [;)]
Late,
grmpysmrf
On first listen (and in the words of the oft revered Maggitooth)…
DEVASTATING.
You are all a bunch of girls for prefering Jesu over this - it must be said.
Like early Swans meets Merzbow meets Wolf Eyes meets Techno Animal. And then twice fucked over. A wall of noise meets a wall of suffering.
My head is still swimming.
Holy terror in our midst. !!. Let it burn then. Corpses. Maggots. Pissed and frightened. Fresh roadkill by the dozen. Packed up and left. Circuits fried. Begged more for still warmth. Received nothing in return. In circles trusted and then forgotten. A black armed minion. Here we step and over. Our bodies twisted. White hot coal burned an ember. We laughed and it bled. Point the finger at sister. Buying whores for family picnics. It stank. Listen with prejudice and tear small wounds in non believers.
()
Those are the first things that came to mind.
Could this be a new beginning? Or a sad ending?
Either way this album triumphs. (9/10)
You definitely like the noisier, more abrasive, “difficult” stuff, Peligro. I’m with you there. i will check this one out.
Yes it is one damn fine wall o’ concrete noise. Boy, is this thing nasty. These guys could do Wolf Eyes out of a job in no time. Probably my favourite new release of '09 so far.
Recommend it to all. Be open minded and prepared to take a battering. But there are ‘tunes’ here. Each track has it’s own distinctive…feel.
Had it blasting on the car stereo just before - people were glancing nervously at me at the traffic lights as if I was some psycho nutjob on the way to a black mass or a Mormon prayer metting. I had to smile!
Yes it is one damn fine wall o’ concrete noise. Boy, is this thing nasty. These guys could do Wolf Eyes out of a job in no time.
No. Just no.
Wolf Eyes are dedicated atonal masters
Listen to their latest, ‘Always Wrong’, which of no one of course even bothered to listen to here because it’s not JK Broadrick’s latest “genius maniphesto”.
For all the brutality here, it’s still more musical than Wolf Eyes’ albums and is made with more conventional instrumentation.
But this is an excellent album so far, and easily on par with much of Wolf Eyes’ material (though ‘Burned Mind’ it 'aint). “Vultures Descend” didn’t do it justice. I definitely want a copy of this.
I really like this. Surprising, because I never got into Godflesh. Greymachine reminds me a bit of Aluk Todolo.
I take it the streaming is at a reduced quality, as the drums & vox sound shit (though the bass sounds cool). This sounds like something I could get into; ‘Wasted’, ‘Sweatshop’ & ‘Easy Pickings’ sound like the best. ‘Vultures Descend’ could be the worst song from the album, don’t see why they picked that as the “first listen”. I may get around to picking this up at some point. Looks like JKB can’t get away from his roots for too long. It’s funny how he said why he finished Godflesh was because he was tired of all the really heavy shit and shouting and the like. Give him a few years, a couple of dodgy split ep’s and he’s back in the saddle.
What are the buying options for this album, is there a download available, price etc?
I think this is the most interesting thing he’s done in ages. A lot of Justin’s output lately has sounded a bit similar to me but this one’s totally out of left field. The only way to describe it really is DEVASTATING. I dig the garbled vocals buried in the mix too.
It’s surprising that there’s not more love for this album here…given Justin’s success rate on this site. I’m lost for words but ultimately guessing that its lack of melody or structure and general ‘nastiness’ is what has people turning their noses up. Which is a shame because it’s really worth the time and the effort and a hundred miles from the humdrum “haven’t we been here before” of Jesu’s recent output.
I’m hoping this isn’t the last album by these guys.
(BTW As much as I enjoy the odd Wolf Eyes album, I find GreyMachine much more rewarding and far less…silly).
It’s surprising that there’s not more love for this album here…given Justin’s success rate on this site. I’m lost for words but ultimately guessing that its lack of melody or structure and general ‘nastiness’ is what has people turning their noses up. Which is a shame because it’s really worth the time and the effort and a hundred miles from the humdrum “haven’t we been here before” of Jesu’s recent output.
I’m hoping this isn’t the last album by these guys.
(BTW As much as I enjoy the odd Wolf Eyes album, I find GreyMachine much more rewarding and far less…silly).
!!
I think Wolf Eyes…especially early on…definitely had more a campy quality to their music and were less serious than someone like Broadrick in terms of their aesthetic. That kind of vibe I think peaked with ‘Dread’.
They are still a bit silly in terms of their onstage banter between songs and the ragged psuedo satanic handmade album art they employ at times, but I think their music has gotten a lot more “serious”.
The thing with them is they release way too many CD-Rs and self-released jams instead of using strict quality control.
If you keep it down to the main albums you have:
s/t
‘Dread’
‘Dead Hills’
‘Slicer’
‘Burned Mind’
‘Human Animal’
‘Always Wrong’
I think these are all solid discs with a pretty wide and impressive array of sounds. The self-titled is very silly and campy, but still a fun album to party to.
I just think it’s a shame that the hype they earned with ‘Burned Mind’ was kind of their peak and interest in them has really fizzled out in heavy experimental music circles…
I can certainly understand how lack of quality control played into that, but I can’t help but feel it’s also an issue of them actually not “selling out” and really sticking to their guns and getting booted from Sub Pop, which had given them a lot of the legitimacy which led to their success outside of cult circles in the first place.
In terms of an experimetnal album that is extremely organic and cohesive yet different from track to track … with enormous emphasis on a totally stylized atmosphere and a mastery of the build and release of tension … an album that is really a world unto itself … I have never heard anything quite like ‘Burned Mind’.
You know, I went out and bought two Wolf Eyes albums one day (“Burned Mind” and “Human Animal”) after reading about them online. I can’t honestly say I’ve listened to either of those albums all the way through; I didn’t even rip them to my mp3 folder on my computer.
I have no problem with them; I cannot, as an open-minded fan of experimental music, call them “bad” (God knows they’re giving it 100%). But I cannot say that I could listen to them on an often enough basis to grow familiar with it. It’s just too… I think “much” is the word I’m looking for.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting older. It reminds me of the time in high school (1993) when my mom popped into my room and asked me to stop playing Ministry in the house. “That’s not music,” she said.
Looks like this is a must listen for me, then. Anything noisy and drenched in JKB-ness is fine by me.
Definitely do. You won’t be disappointed. Just make sure it’s on good speakers with decent bass because there is a lot going on and it could be quite muddled if on a bad system I imagine.
If you keep it down to the main [Wolf Eyes] albums you have:
s/t
‘Dread’
‘Dead Hills’
‘Slicer’
‘Burned Mind’
‘Human Animal’
‘Always Wrong’
I think these are all solid discs with a pretty wide and impressive array of sounds. The self-titled is very silly and campy, but still a fun album to party to.
I own the last four (plus the Anthony Braxton collaboration, which is good), but I’ve never heard early Wolf Eyes. Now I’m curious, can the early albums still be purchased new?
I can certainly understand how lack of quality control played into that, but I can’t help but feel it’s also an issue of them actually not “selling out” and really sticking to their guns and getting booted from Sub Pop, which had given them a lot of the legitimacy which led to their success outside of cult circles in the first place.
Simply amazing that any underground band could LOSE respect for not selling out. I never heard the reason why they aren’t on Sub Pop anymore, do you know the full story?
In terms of an experimetnal album that is extremely organic and cohesive yet different from track to track … with enormous emphasis on a totally stylized atmosphere and a mastery of the build and release of tension … an album that is really a world unto itself … I have never heard anything quite like ‘Burned Mind’.
My initial reaction to Burned Mind was that I had found an album vaguely similar to Puppy Gristle (although that album is just one long track).