I finally got my hands on the new Author & Punisher. Following "Women & Children" the bar is raised pretty high. Tristan Shore has been a one man wrecking crew when it comes to industrial by making music using a a complex system of home made machines fitting for the genre. The first thing I notice is the vocals are not as distorted as pervious albums. He still has Godflesh like grit to his voice. It is dark and doomy with something that sounds like Arabian wailing floating over the droning rumble. Shore gets closer to singing on "Cauterize" that has a more more down trodden Ministry like pound.
Things get darker with the more surreal sonic dirge that is "Shame". The vocals are layered and find Shore singing on the chorus , but not laying down your typical hook. "Future Man" finds Shore taking a step in a more melodic direction , but not letting up on the lumber even as he basks it in more atmosphere. The lyrics on this album are more in your face this time around as well. By the time the album grinds its way to "Disparate" it is evident Shore is not retreading ground from other albums. It feels like there is a more defined bass line to this song. It has a industrial trudge to the pacing and the vocals are throaty in a similar manner to Godflesh's heavier moments. I like how the lyrics "getting high on fumes" are spat out. While different this song come closest to what fans of the projects older work might want from him. Very dark piano passages creep out of the stark machine stomping.
While I like him growling about chaos reigning, I don't feel like "Callous and Hoof" really finds it's feet until that point in the song and it is a bunch of crazy sounds being thrown at you that are hard to absorb as a song. While it comes together with the post-apocalyptic thud at the end it's not the albums strongest song. The experimentation continues on "Teething" which lurches into abrasive electronics as he whispers over it, but it pays off when things pound themselves into place. The album stays heavy and pummeling as it ends on " Void, Null, Alive". Though the songs final moments find a cool layers of sung melody injected into it. This album was worth the wait there are a few moments that have to grow on me, I think this album is heavier than his last. He doesn't make the same album twice and retains the sonic intensity and his way of doing things . I'll give this one a solid 9.5, no rounding up, lets see how it grows on me.
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