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Skullflower, "IIIrd Gatekeeper"
Although a rough stab at naming a genre, the UK "noise rock" scene started as a darker outgrowth of the distortion and effect laden shoegaze genre, though with more of a nod to proto-Industrialists like SPK, Whitehouse and Throbbing Gristle. As a scene it was rather incestuous, with many of the major artists such as Skullflower, Ramleh and Novatron often switching members between projects, and even connections with some of the more rock oriented bands like Godflesh, Cable Regime, and Bodychoke. If there was a definitive disc for this time, IIIrd Gatekeeper might just be it.
Maybe not their first album, IIIrd Gatekeeper is perhaps their most well known. The trio (at this time) of the band's only consistent member, guitarist Matthew Bower, alongside drummer and vocalist (if you count the occasional muffled groans as such) Stewart Dennison (who also did time in Ramleh), and bassist Anthony DiFranco (of Novatron/AX/JFK) crafted this hour long mix of murky, stoned out stabs at rock with a serious bend towards the experimental. Fittingly issued by Justin Broadrick's Head Dirt label back in 1992, the opening strains of guitar feedback, fuzzed out bass, and slow, pounding caveman drums on "Can You Feel It?" both makes for an appropriate question and a raison d'etre for the remaining hour or so. Throughout the track, the careful balance of hypnotic repetition meshed with subtle dynamics that consistently move along at a glacial pace is struck.
Tracks like the faster paced "Larks Tongues" manage to shift in dynamics even more, from the pummeling drums and bass that are met with vast open air spaces of unadulterated feedback and guitar abuse. "Center Puss" even displays a nod to the psychedelic with its lead guitar lines being fed through heavy wah and flange. At the same time, I can almost hear the nods to the US grunge scene that was contemporaneous to this album (at the very early stages when it was still relevant) in the muddy Black Sabbath inspired lurch of "Saturnalia" with overlaid feedback squeals.
Admittedly, there is not a great deal of change or variation from track to track on IIIrd Gatekeeper, nor should there be. It is one of the rare instances in which the simplicity in structure and minimal repetition are an asset, and not a liability, and each track shows enough dynamics throughout to remove the threat or fear of boredom from encroaching. Even the longer tracks, like "Godzilla" ape the prototypical "simplicity in excellis" approach of Velvet Underground, which showed that a simple theme amped up loud enough and pushed with enough vigor could just loom sonically and be compelling.
Although as a reissue it doesn't receive the full deluxe treatment with extra tracks or anything, the core of the album is still there and sounds cleaner than ever (based on my previous experience with tapes/MP3s of the original disc), and it comes packaged in an attractive mini-gatefold LP style jacket. The music is just as relevant now as it was some 15 years ago upon its original release, and perhaps even more so. The thick syrupy drones of Sunn O))) and the neo-shoegaze blur of A Place to Bury Strangers both owe a great deal to Skullflower's early ventures into the sludge, and kudos to Crucial Blast for making this classic available again. Now guys, maybe Xaman or Infinityland next?
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