The Quietus have revealed their albums of the year and as like previous years we are humbled to say we have three releases amongst the impressive run down:
No.74
Hey Colossus - The Guillotine
I could go on about how fantastic this album sounds, about the glorious, soaring terror of 'Experts Toll', or the rich, mournful beauty of 'Potions', but what feels more important is what it means. The Guillotine, as Gnod have done on Just Say No…, sees Hey Colossus harnessing their chaos, honing it into the very essence of these terrifying times.
No.17
GNOD - Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine
Gnod join the ever growing list of musicians concerned with personhood, dehumanisation and physical deterioration. But their approach is different – they are distinctly non-fantastical in their presentation of people, their lyrics capture everyday details such as the state of someone's nails, their hair, their work failures and private behaviours. Where other artists provide an implicit, ominous reference to dehumanisation through visual means, Gnod are explicit in their references, picking out situations and conditions of human exploitation and obscenity.
No.15.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Feed The Rats
Feed The Rats is essentially three tracks – two gargantuan bolshie dirges bookending the four-and-a-half minute ‘Sweet Relief’. So let’s start there, with the meat in this fetid sandwich. The name could be a play on Black Sabbath’s ‘Sweet Leaf’ – for a band clearly indebted to the Birmingham icons it bears a modicum of sense. But there is relentlessness here, a flayed aggression, which Ozzy et al could never muster. Matt Baty’s vocals howl, echoing over the cacophony like a mythic warlord and mischief-maker, both from the heavens and from the bowels of the earth. And what a cacophony it is – the guitars come at you predictably but with a juggernaut force that rattles the ribcage. This is classic 70s heavy metal deep-fried in iron and blood.
See the full rundown here: The Quietus
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