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Gnawed, "Feign and Cloak"
Minnesota's Grant Richardson may be a relatively new player in the American harsh electronics scene, but his expanding discography of tapes and low-run releases have honed his ability and skill at making ugly noise. With Gnawed taking cues equally from the European Cold Meat Industries sound and the contemporary US noise scene, Feign and Cloak is a heavy, yet diverse record that certainly brings power and force, but a lot more as well.
Most of the eight pieces are enshrouded in a constant metallic clang or a dungeon-like reverb, giving some consistently from song to song without ever becoming stagnant.Vocals appear on most of the songs, but not only extremely low in the mix, but heavily buried in a dense flanging, not unlike Con-Dom or The Grey Wolves.The effect is so heavy that the words are all but unintelligible, and given the titling and artwork, I am going to guess they are not about anything pleasant.
Like a good power electronics record, Richardson keeps some semblance of rhythm present throughout many of these pieces.On "Burning the Hive", what sounds like a loosely strung bass guitar sets the rhythmic bed on which a droning, harsh synth expanse is placed.Similarly, on "Feign and Cloak" he uses what sounds to be reverb heavy, filthy synth stabs to give some structure to the piece, while noise grows and cranks up the intensity.
Most overtly song-like is "Pestilence Beholden," beginning with a stammering, distorted drum machine and sustained buzzing synth.The employing of actual, discernible rhythms adds a lot, and as a whole Richardson uses layering to excellent effect.The result is a structured, developing song that sounds like far more than just a blast of white noise.
The final few pieces on Feign and Cloak have Richardson stepping a bit into cleaner, purer sounds beyond just the harsh walls of heavy sound."The Wings and the Carrion" is an echoing expanse, more singed, scorched earth ambience than straight electronics. "The Drowning Fire" begins initially as a bass heavy synth rumble, but soon evolves into scraping noise and distorted voice, transitioning from oppressive ambience into pure oppression, building brilliantly every step of the way.
Richardson's strongest asset on Feign and Cloak is restraint.Even with the massive walls of noise and harsh vocals that appear throughout, he always seems to be holding back, keeping the sound tenser and heavy than it would be if he just unleashed into pure explosive noise.It is that tension and ambiguity that makes the album such a captivating one.
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