Coming a year and a half after one of my favorite grindcore albums of 2011 (as well as one of my all-time favorites), Noisear are back with a full-length of tight, technical, grinding ragers. Press releases say that "Turbulent Resurgence" was written in one day and recorded in the span of 48 hours, which should come as no surprise to anyone who looked in the liner notes for "Subvert the Dominant Paradigm" and saw the note about “All decompositions written and recorded June 25th 2010” (which continually blows my mind). Drummer Bryan Fajardo and guitarist Dorian Rainwater have been playing in bands together for so long that they can write albums in a day and with this set of 23 songs in 18 minutes there is no room for over-thinking. Each song comes bursting out of the gate fully formed, nearly all of them having no sort of song intro, leaving not a second to waste. The songs range from 25 to 67 seconds and with only three songs over a minute (two of them being noise tracks contributed by Winters in Osaka) Noisear have possibly written the most bullshit-free album of 2012. Winters in Osaka wrote the intro, interlude, and outro tracks, which are the only times this album lets you take a breath; without these the album would be 16 minutes flat, half the length of the new Pig Destroyer album.
Noisear has changed their lineup this time around, losing their dedicated vocalist and bassist, lending to a different mood that is still distinctly “Noisear,” and in fact sounds a lot like their early material (but with a much tighter recording and playing quality). Dorian handles all bass work on the album, but it is pretty low in the mix. "Subvert.." was my introduction to Noisear and I immediately loved the rumbling bass brought by the insanely good Joe Tapia. While I am a bit disappointed he isn’t on their new album (first time in a long time), Noisear on "Turbulent Resurgence" do not sound like they’re missing anything. Whereas "Subvert..." has what many people like to call a “jazz fusion” element to it (meaning frequent tempo changes and bizarre chord shapes), Resurgence is about as “pure” grindcore as it can be while still being dynamic and interesting. Noisear are in full-blast mode on here, with no guitar solos and very few breakdowns (if you insist on calling the slower end part of a song a breakdown), and while twenty minutes of blast beats would get boring or overwhelming for most grindcore bands that’s simply because they don’t have Bryan Fajardo behind the kit. Fajardo is without a doubt one of the best drummers in grindcore because unlike so many million-mile-an-hour blasters he utilizes his kit to the fullest extent, playing snare and tom rolls within the beats, constantly changing what the beat is. Look to his other bands (Kill the Client, Gridlink, Phobia, and most recently P.L.F.) if you need any convincing of his talents.
Having listened to this album several dozen times at work since its release, I can safely say that it is one of the best grindcore albums of 2012, if only because of the repeat plays it demands. It’s much less of a mind-fuck as their previous album, but the songs are just as short and catchy as before, and once you start playing one song it’s easy to just let the album finish. Some of my favorite tracks are “Indifference,” “Educate Hatred,” “Born Alone, Die Alone,” “Less Fashi on, More Thrashin’,” and “Fiery Rebirth.”
Rating: 8.5/10
~Dylan
it's interesting to hear your take because i had almost the opposite reaction. i thought it was a good enough record but i'd actually like it if they spent the time necessary to do some editing to make it stronger. it felt too safe too me. but i'll have to go give it a go again and try to hear it through your ears.
ReplyDeletenoisear is one of the best - shooting spree
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