This album has the kind of murky darkness I enjoy. It wrestles with the demons of sound vs song, though there is a solve vs coagulation kind of dynamic here. After an ambient synth intro the first proper song which is almost eight minutes is like free jazz exploration of chaos that becomes more organic and feels like an actual band coming together by the end. The title track finds Matron's vocals more focused and greatly improved over his past work, they are a low Marilyn Manson like croaking. They seem to be fighting again the clanging of the guitars to maintain a droning hook of sorts.
They line of chaos into noise begins to be crossed on "You Said You Would Do Anything". Is is more noise and less song while they are dark and more interesting noises to me than say the more abrasive caterwauling of the Body it is still a messy sonic stew. Though listenable. The guitar simmers more on "Helter-skelter Coming Down". The vocals put together a grainy black and white melody that bubbles under the brooding. So far the the most well written song of the album, then there is more of an interlude feel to the sample heavy "Scene Missing" which is highlighted by very experimental guitar. I like that the sample serving as the undercurrent for this is taken from the movie "Once" where Natalie Portman plays a stripper.
There is more of a song structure to the almost grunge laden dirge that is "Body Negative" . It has the most melody in the dynamic ebb and flow though works off the jarring formula they are out to batter your ears with. Stormy tension brews throughout the almost eight minutes of descent into this sonic hellscape. The closing song "Get off My Planet" does find him returning to a more organic attempt at songwriting, even if it sounds like the Screaming Trees losing their minds in the shadow dimension. I will give this album a 9, it could be more song focused but what it was intended to be was achieved so it hard to argue against that.
5.4
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