Review: Gridfailure ‘Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III’
The second installation of the Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggeryseries was my first exposure to Gridfailure, and I remember finding it difficult at the time stating that ‘listening to this album is a challenge’.My perspective on David Brenner’s work has since shifted considerably, so much so that When The Lights Go Out Vol. IV made my 2024 end-of-year top ten.
According to the promotional notes, this latest release ‘continues to follow the death of our planet’s ecosystem and humanity’s renaissance of self-mutilation’, hardly the most uplifting of themes, but then the project was hardly ever Earth, Wind and Fire. The record’s credits read like a who’s who of Gridfailure collaborators, names such as Dan Emery, Leila Abdul-Rauf, Mac Gollehon, Pranjal Tiwari, Jeff Wilson, Benjamin Levitt to name a few.
Subdividing The Survivors is a melancholic film noir-ish number of the kind which could easily be listened to while reading Hubert Selby Jr’s Last Exit To Brooklyn, a wonderful opener. Extermination Level Eventuality taps the pioneering work of Celtic Frost what with its sense of Wagnerian bombast. Though there are moments of pure beauty too, such as the use of delicate guitar-work and dreamy vocals in the style of Bilinda Butcher (My Bloody Valentine). A highly effective combination of tones.
Hybrid Warfare In Defense Of One’s Habitat melds dark hip-hop beats, smoky jazz and bleak post-industrial touches to create sounds common with groups such as Dälek and Techno Animal. Wow is all that can be said. Anthropophagiae Nationisis musically less defined, more like the incidental music from classic horror movies such as Dawn of the Dead and can be viewed as an interlude. Drunk On The Blood Of My Neighbor is akin to a twisted interpretation of a Bernard Herrmann score, especially Taxi Driver, which gives the whole thing a deliciously nightmarish vibe while Vestiges imbibes the laid-back stoner beats of DJ Muggs and his work with both Cypress Hill and Soul Assassins.
a deliciously nightmarish vibe…
Ration Distribution/Processed For Storagemarks the album’s halfway point and there are some otherworldly spatial John Carpenter/John Michel Jarre vibes that allow one a little space with which to decompress aurally. Communal Taxidermyadopts a more abrasive approach with nods to NIN and early ‘90s Frontline Assembly, while This Was More Than Just Killing… It Was Artsounds hauntingly gothic with nods to the late, great Rozz Williams, so obviously it was going to be up my street.
Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III: Acquiring A Taste is the album’s longest track at nearly fifteen minutes with a distinctive post-rock feel. Imagine a darker Slint but with drone and fusion elements, one of their best, most innovative compositions to date. Maria is stripped back with a little blues injected into the mix, and Necrotizing Fasciitisis dark ambient fare (pretty much Brenner’s stock in trade), which will delight fans of similar-sounding artists such as Lustmord.
End In Sight has demonic vocals which remind one of Regan from The Exorcist with classical music goodness added in for good measure. By contrast, Species Deconstructivist is a mashup of gloomy early ‘90s Swans neo-folk and vicious black metal which produces chaotic yet brilliant results. Finally, Transmissions Cease is appropriately titled, a series of futile bleeps echoing in the distance, desperately attempting to attract the attention of anyone in the vicinity that help is needed. An eerie and helpless conclusion to the record.
Clocking in at well over an hour, Gridfailure retain its noise and dark ambient roots but with the benefit of joyfully unexpected musical diversions along the way. Yet another triumphant release from David Brenner.
Label: Nefarious Industries
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills
