25 Jan 2019
The Quietus reviews Gum Takes Tooth's 'Arrow'
They say:
Gum Takes Tooth delve into the manifold horrors and confusions of 2019 London and find just enough euphoria and hope to keep you dancing
The name of duo Jussi Brightmore and Tom Fug’s band already evokes the eviscerating horror of everyday human existence. Gum Takes Tooth have spent a decade chiselling noise that folds and crashes in on itself, a hot wire to the blood. Having been part of nihilistic shapeshifters Shit & Shine, Gum Takes Tooth make a similar move away from the kinetic freneticism of live thrashing-and-bashing into a more synthetic version of their unhuman reality. But Arrow also has a sharpened focus: a coruscating chimera prowling the brutalities of London, shouting into the void.
This isn’t an easy listen, or at times even an enjoyable one – Arrow grabs you by the back of the neck and proceeds to electrocute you from inside out, hissing “do you see?” in your ear every 30 seconds. From the artificial heartbeat and shattered, sinuous vocals of opener ‘Chrome Cold Hearts’ to the outer-space metallic maelstrom of ‘House Built On Fire’, Gum Takes Tooth make sure that this is not escapism, but a shackling to the Hellmouth that we have all helped to create...
Read the full review here: The Quietus
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