Gridfailure: Psychological Badlands: Henchpersons Instrumentals

Gridfailure is best known for defying all expectations, but this album takes things even further. I listened to parts of the album while working out at the gym, a big mistake. First of all, the sounds here require much more attention than the rest period between sets. But more importantly, the music is freaky and may make you turn around to check behind you more than you normally would. This is especially true if you listen to “Get to the Door,� a song that uses a brief snippet of the human voice to maximum effect.

This album stands apart from Gridfailure’s other releases and is not part of the band’s ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction Skulduggery series. That project will continue and should eventually reach its five album target. If you like what Gridfailure does, however, this album has much to offer. I was especially intrigued to learn that the music was largely developed in a series of live improvisational jams. I know that some listeners may wonder how a noise act can improvise but there’s so much more to this music than it seems. Not surprisingly, the music here is frequently odd and always intense. It’s also occasionally freaky and challenging. It’s also not something you’d put on at work (or at the gym) but it is something you may want to hear if you want to stretch your ears and discover even more sonic possibilities than you are used to.

Gridfailure’s David Brenner leads things out, but he has no shortage of “henchpersons� jamming with him. You may even recognize some of their names: Benjamin Levitt, Pete Tsakiris, Richard Muller, BJ Allen, Lane Oliver, Steve Truglio, and Joe D’acci.

Gridfailre isn’t as accessible as some bands, but if you decide to listen, you might be pleasantly surprised. I think I liked “Get to the Door,� but I definitely liked “When All Clocks Stopped� and “Tie Off the Bleeders.�

Track Listing:
1. Fluid Explosive Techtonics
2. Get to the Door
3. Tie Off the Bleeders
4. Stalking Through the Ceiling
5. When All Clocks Stopped
6. Smolderhead
7. Badlands Inversion
8. Subduction Becoming
9. Buttercup / Greased Rat
10. Event Horizon Meditations
11. Cadaver Angels

Added: November 11th 2019
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Bandcamp Page
Hits: 1373
Language: english

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