The mere mention of the name Justin K. Broadrick evokes memories of some of the most amazing industrial music ever produced. As a founding member of grindcore heroes Napalm Death, industrial metal legends, Godflesh, and later experimental metallers Jesu, he has helped to shape the sound of extreme metal and industrial music over the last 40 years or so. During that time, he has also worked with a diverse range of bands as a producer, including Pantera, Isis, Mogwai and Pelican. In 2007 during Jesu’s Conqueror tour, he befriended the like-minded, Dirk Serries, whose band, Fear Falls Burning were the support act. The two had developed from similar musical backgrounds, both had been heavily involved in the experimental, industrial and noise music scenes since the 1980s, which eventually led to them working together from time to time, helping out one another on each other’s projects and on odd occasions in a live setting. This kinship eventually led to the pair working together on this, their first album as Loud as Giants.

Empty Homes features four long instrumental tracks that run at a collective 46 minutes. Opener "Monument" is a 12.30 meandering slab of cyclical guitar drones that borrows as much from Germany’s Can as it does from their own previous work. Atmospheric and hypnotic, it can help take the listener into other realms of consciousness. "Estranged" is up next and after an almost ambient beginning with lots of found sounds and drones grows into something darker and harsher, with the addition of guitars and synths. This particular track hints at something approaching the noise scene, not quite as harsh as bands like Wolf Eyes but certainly influenced by those sorts of artists. After a slow droning start "Room Three" kicks into gear around the 2.45 mark. Reminiscent of both previous tracks, it has some harsher moments like we hear in Estranged but takes the floaty hypnotic vibes of Monument to the next level before gently fading out to nothingness. The album closer "Isolation" has a very cinematic feel, recalling some of the more Avant Garde movie scores to have graced our screens in the last twenty years. At moments, I am reminded particularly of Christopher Young’s score to the horror movie Sinister, or Hans Zimmer’s score to 2021s sci-fi masterpiece Dune.

Overall, Empty Homes is a triumph for Broadrick and Serries. A wonderful record featuring four pieces of music that function as individual tracks or as part of a larger overarching sonic theme that flows throughout the album. It’s a fairly chilled record that takes the listener on a journey and works brilliantly as an aid to relaxation. Whilst it’s certainly not an ambient record (there’s far too much going on for that) it manages to do what good instrumental albums do, by drawing the listener in through the subtleties of the instrumentation. Monumental and personal at the same time, it’s a special record that I for one, hope is just the first in a long line of collaborations for the pair.