Prurient — Frozen Niagara Falls
Truth be told, I’ve always been kind of an agnostic toward Fernow’s work. I’ve acquired several of his releases over the years, from Cocaine Death to Bermuda Drain, but I’ve never really been as fanatical toward his work as his admirers, nor as negative toward his work as his detractors (especially when Bermuda Drain hit). Come to think of it, the only release in recent memory that I thoroughly enjoyed was the Prurient collaboration with The RITA on the “Women Pissing” 7”, which was, more or less, Fernow screaming over Sam McKinlay’s walls. So when I was tasked to review the mammoth Frozen Niagara Falls, I approached the album very indifferently. After spending and hour and a half with Fernow’s latest opus, I must say without reservation, that it is really fucking great!
Through 2 discs, Fernow manages to deliver, track after track, an interesting tension between harsh noise and somber synthesizer key work combined with his signature, scathing vocals. Frozen Niagara Falls starts off with the meaty track "Myth of Building Bridges." It's a 10 minute piece of harsh noise dueling with melodically delivered keys. The collision of noise with musicality creates a haunting tension, which is further exacerbated by Fernow's heavily distorted vocals. It’s very reminiscent of 80’s synth driven film scores coupled with meticulously measured explosive bursts. The following “Dragonflies to Sew You Up” takes elements of the opening track, but with much more emphasis on percussion. For those yearning for some full bore harsh noise/power electronics, they should be pleased by tracks like “Poinsettia Pills” and “Falling Mask,” which lack no ferocity.
The title track is so massive that it deserves 2 tracks. The dense “Frozen Niagara Falls (Portion One)” sounds like some nightmare machine crawling at a glacial pace. It’s thick amalgamation of static churning, heavily reverbed vocals, and bleak atmospherics. Somehow through the sludge, it all sounds strangely symphonic. “Frozen Niagara Falls (Portion Two)” completes the piece with heavier emphasis on vocals with lots of static shifts and synthy tweeks and squelches.
One track that is a bit of an outlier is the album's final proceeding, "Christ Among the Broken Glass." The longest track on the album is primarily comprised of melodic acoustic guitar with the sounds of fire crackling in the backdrop. The vaguely spaghetti western guitar stylings might sound like a strange fit for the album, but in its totality, makes complete sense. Towards the track's final minutes, we are finally met with somberly delivered synths and vocals that whispers on about various religious imagery.
I can understand why many noise purists would not take kindly to Frozen Niagara Falls, as it does have some crossover appeal. In that sense, it certainly would be a palatable introduction to someone unfamiliar with noise, but there’s nothing wrong with that in my mind. All in all, a real engaging listen from start to finish. At 91 minutes, Frozen Niagara Falls might seem like a long slog, but it’s a travel worth taking.