One half of the Senior Staff was able to get out to a wholly non-ID:UD related gig over the weekend and catch Calgary’s Mares Of Thrace play a very rhythmically tight and cathartic set of doom metal. As we’ve briefly discussed here and there we’re both fans of a decent amount of metal covering a number of sub-genres, but neither of us are experts. Frankly, sometimes its nice to switch off the part of your brain that needs to be developing informed opinions and producing thoughtful analysis at all times and just enjoy some music simply because you dig it. But speaking of thoughtful analysis (?), let’s get you back to the home front with this week’s tracks.
Dismantled
Godflesh, “Master And Slave”
Justin Broadrick announced earlier this year that he’d be winding Godflesh down for a second time some fifteen-odd years after its reactivation, but was planning two full LPs of new material before that time comes. The first such record sees release on Friday, and while the ratio of dub, electronic, and breaks elements which have always flitted about Godflesh releases had perhaps increased over the last few post-reunion albums, it’s hard not to think that Decay will be going right for the jugular Streetcleaner style based on its opening track. Turn it up and revel in the soothing annihilation of that bass tone.
Grendel, “Dominion”
It’s somehow been 7 years since the release of Grendel’s last LP Ascending the Abyss. It’s been a tangible absence in Our offices; JD Tucker has spent the last decade and a half redefining his legacy as an electro-industrial stylist and producer, starting with 2012’s genre-defying Timewave: Zero and the superlative Age of the Disposable Body, the latter being legitimately one of the most important political albums of the 2010s in Our Thing. “Dominion” speaks to the band we’ve come to know Grendel to be while showing some intriguing developments, such as JD’s now accomplished melodic vocal style, some very smooth string programming and sleek modern sound design applied to a classic EBM gallop. All that and lyrics that don’t just decry the social media era but examine the panopticon of control they emerge from? Welcome back Grendel, we missed you.
Dismantled, “Zero”
Speaking of long-awaited returns, holy shit, there’s new Dismantled. Gary Zon’s long-running project has always been a standard bearer for a version of hard and harsh electro-industrial that maintains the genre’s atmospheric and emotional core. The first track from the forthcoming Endless is “Zero”, a cut that features Zon’s distinctive processed and multi-layered vocals, samples, and some fine string programming for good measure. It’s melancholic, but after a more than half a decade wait (the album was originally teased all the way back in 2021), it’s a sound that feels right.
Rosetta Stone, “Shadowban”
Porl King’s moved Rosetta Stone through a number of preceding modes since reactivating the legendary second wave of goth rock project as a solo joint seven years back. A forthcoming release looks to keep that trend going (the Executing Nostalgia title feels rather on the nose in that regard) – one half of it will be made up of classic goth covers, continuing in the tradition of Unerotica and last year’s Nothing Is Sacred, while the other half is originals. This first taste of the latter feels like a callback to a very different moment in King’s history, though: the claustrophobic and hazy bass fog of this cut’s a dead ringer for the post witch house loops and grooves which made up the bulk of the voluminous In Death It Ends catalog in the 2010s.
Control Fields, “Black Anomaly”
Some solidly chewy bass sits at the centre of the B-side of the debut single from Tbilisi producer Control Fields, but that’s not the only thing which has us flashing back to 90s EBM and dark electro. The combo of icy programming and classic “hacking the Gibson” style sampling on this goes down as smooth as a Jolt cola being slammed during an all night Quake LAN party.
Emmon, “Relics (Kris Baha remix)”
Kris Baha is one of the most reliable producers that emerged from the techno-body moment, with his canny grasp of gnarly sound design and how to assemble peak time bangers making him a go-to remixer for many artists. For evidece of why and the results why not check out Baha’s mix for Emmon’s “Relics”, taking the pensive and punchy original and giving it a slick peak-time makeover that references breakbeat driven 90’s techno, some psytrance, and some seriously warped synthwork. This’ll singe your nosehairs if you aren’t careful, play loud with caution.
