Body Stress — No Flesh Will Be Justified
It begins with the title track - about nine minutes of rhythmic, metallic banging; over which wind-like synth drones and feedback float. Beyond the emergence of some more stinging feedback about halfway through, the only change or development is in the last few seconds, where the hits become more pronounced, and more violent crackle rises up. It feels like a good introduction to the album, but its not introduction length: it feels a bit too long for itself. The second piece, ‘The Judge Of Men’s Actions’, is a very nice, tense wall. Split between the speakers, it sets a fast pace; but rather than an all-out barrage, it creates a suspenseful tone - helped by a resonating, high drone that lurks inside the crackle. The bulk of the wall is made up of a strong low end and skittering, brittle treble crackle; not necessarily anything staggering, but a fine creation nonetheless.
Turning the tape over, we come to ‘In God’s Eye All Offends Him’. This track, like all four, is around the nine minute mark. Under a thin layer of crackle, it combines a reverberating pulse with alternating passages of bass drone and flailing feedback. As with the first track, nothing really develops (as such); but in the final minute or so, the clouds clear and the synth is heard clearer and stronger - and as with the first piece, I can’t help but feel that the track doesn’t justify its length. The fourth and final work, “Doomed To The Lake Of Fire’, is a shuddering wall of noise, though not a noise wall. Founded on a disorientating bass throb, the track is a mix of feedback and rhythmic noise. The noise element shifts a little near the end, becoming more articulated and revealing more of the underlying sound; but, to repeat myself ad infinitum, the track doesn’t really go anywhere. If the pieces had a hypnotic quality, none of this would matter; but they don’t, for my ears - ‘The Judge Of Men’s Actions’ excepted. Where this ‘pure wall’ track has a mesmerising effect, I feel that the surrounding three works suffer from a mix of elements that sometimes get in each others’ way. The rhythmic clangs of the first track, really just mark time and little else; whilst ‘In God’s Eye All Offends Him’ is ultimately just an A/B structure played out, without ever making anything out of the repetition. The bass element of the last track is great, but somewhat de-clawed by the other ingredients on top of it: on its own, I suspect it would really draw the ear in.
This is, if I might be bold and arrogant, half a good tape to my mind. I say ‘half’, because it feels unfinished to me. The wall track is fine, but the others feel like they need something else added - something as simple as vocals would make a real difference for my ears. There’s an attempted hypnotism, but it doesn’t come off - there’s just a little too much going on for that approach to work. I feel like these tracks either need to be stripped back, or built on further. Though, at the risk of it sounding like faint praise, they are certainly good foundations.