Artist: Greymachine
Album: Disconnected
Year: 2009
Label: Hydrahead (US) / Daymare (w/ bonus track) (Japan)
Genre(s)/Style(s): industrial, drone, noise, industrial metal
Line-up:
Justin Broadrick - Guitars, Bass, Drums, Vocals, Synths, Samples, Programming
Aaron Turner - Guitar, Vocals
Dave Cochrane - Bass
Diarmuid Dalton - Synth, Bass
Tracklisting:
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| *bonus track for Japanese version by Daymare Recordings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jesu's emergence in the early 2000's made it seem like Justin Broadrick had thrown in the industrial towel for good, instead opting for the post-metal approach over the heavy machinery that defined his early career; the slow, mechanical grinding and buzzing guitar drone of Godflesh had been given up in favor of light and fluffy melody. At some point Broadrick threw together some synth and drum tracks on the side, and handed them over to Aaron Turner (of the late, great Isis) who laid down some licks over top of them. Together, and with help of Broadrick's associates from Godflesh and Jesu, Greymachine was busy at work, turning what started as an email dub-over into one of the most poignant releases of 2009. And contrary to hype and reasonable expectations, this sounds nothing like Isis or Jesu, but is really another one of Broadrick's sick industrial symphonies, with an extra helping of hopelessness and dread.
(from left to right, top to bottom: Cochrane, Broadrick, Dalton, Turner)
Greymachine sounds like what Whitehouse should have been. The classic noise / industrial of Godflesh's predecessors is stepped up a notch or two, in whirl of twisted samples, shattered voices, screeching drone, and rumbling bass. The rhythms are played mostly by Broadrick himself and share his characteristic repetitive style with hints of hip-hop, or dub, or jungle. The atmosphere is captivating and heavily layered; a swarm of sounds accumulates in all stereo spaces and it can be quite suffocating. The high volume outro to "Vultures Descend" and the dissonant harmonies that the guitars weep -- "Wasted", "Just Breathing", "Easy Pickings" -- are thick with paranoia and apprehension, and will have your skin crawling, or your ears bleeding. While each song is based around a very repetitive rhythm, it never gets boring; there's just too much going on in the song. The samples come in go like gale-force winds, the droning melodies grow or release tension, the vocal bark calls buried in noise.... It's oppressive, like living under the constant watch of Big Brother. But very real and heart-felt; the terror is genuine. The martial beats of "Just Breathing" and desperate samples (and obvious title) of "Sweatshop" also give this album a vague hardcore punk motif, writhe with allusions to anti-government/anti-corporate sentiment, while the wash of samples and industrial clamor sounds like a bustling city, slowly crumbling under the weight of dictatorship and stench of pollution and dilapidation.
Though supposedly a collaboration, it's hard to say where exactly Aaron Turner's genius rubbed off on this album, if at all. It could be the melancholic cries in the opening few minutes to "Wolf at the Door", or the absolute misery at the end of "Wasted"; the call-response riff that starts off "Just Breathing" especially sounds like the Isis track "Emission of the Signal" from Sawblade, and the roaring vocals on "We Are All Fucking Liars" and its bonus track remix are unmistakably Turner's. (In fact, it's worth noting that "We Are..." and its remix sound hardly anything alike, and the Daymare version is worth getting for the remix alone.) All the while, the psychedelic slamming of "When Attention Just Ain't Enough" and sinister bass / electronic drum patterns of "Sweatshop" screams Us and Them-era Godflesh and Techno Animal respectively. But since Broadrick is also credited with playing the same instruments as all the other members, it's nearly impossible to say what was laid down by who, and if was even necessary in the first place; i.e. could Broadrick have been just as well off on his own?
In the end, the aptly-titled Disconnected is in a league of its own, and even if it just a Broadrick project, which is clearly mostly is, it's still an utterly fantastic and devastating release. The atmosphere is overwhelming and infectious, surely to bring even the most seasoned of drone / noise fans to their knees. The early Swans / Godflesh junkies should thoroughly enjoy piercing punch of the rhythms section and the hissing, droning melodies. Greymachine create a world full of urban decay, escapism, and despair and it transfers well to the human soul, however sickly it may be. Industrial is back to the basics, but the ante is upped out of obsolete approaches and simple analogue static into a maelstrom of heavily layered cacophonous ballads.
This is easily one of the top underground albums of 2009 and the past decade, a worthy usurped to the post-Khanate blues and indeed, a return to what made industrial so damn good back in the day. It makes me eagerly wonder what Broadrick will do next.
Verdict: 95% - All hail Broadrick!
Try it. (mediafire, 138 MG, 320 kb/s)
Buy it. (CD, HydraHead / Blue Collar Distro)
Can you re-up this sometime ? Thanx in advance
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