Theologian — Some Things Have To Be Endured

Lee Bartow is better known as Leech, the man behind Navicon Torture Technologies and Theologian. Both are well known and respected projects in the noise community. NTT, as I'm sure you already know, plays an excellent blend of power electronics and death industrial. Lee's Theologian takes a similar approach, but tends toward a more beat oriented sound. The addition of softer melodies on top of the dark industrial add to the genre bending fun and help to separate Theologian from the pack.

Some Things Have To Be Endured has Leech working with a number female vocalists. Their varied styles and ranges are matched well to the tracks on which they perform. This adds another element to Theologian's already diverse sound, and really makes this album pop. "Black Cavern Myopia" starts the album off with rough, low synths and a horribly cheesy "creepy" female vocal before a solid, pounding beat comes in.  It's an interesting take on death industrial and could almost be considered danceable. The vocals end up taking on a half spoken/half sung quality and are fairly low in the mix. Keeping with an industrial vibe, "The Conjoined Deviant Procession" has a looped feedback squeal over a crunchy, industrial loop. A low synth fills the back and Kristen MacArthur (Sewer Goddess) offers up spoken, delayed vocals. Far more on the PE end of things than the first track, "Conjoined" showcases Theologian's rougher side. In a similar vein to this is "Like Love, Only Real." This has Gillian Bowling (Teloahqaal) on spoken vocal duty. The tape recorder sound and delay add a found audio feel, like a recorded suicide note or something. The vocals on top of the low synth buzz and slowly oscillating drones capture the despair quite well. A synthy warble that isn't too far from what one would hear on a Numan b-side comes to play along with a pretty standard, although distorted, beat. This song is thick and well done. The biggest surprise for me and easily my personal highlight is "Grand Guignol." While not soft, per se, "Grand Guignol" sounds like an entirely different project. The drums aren't too affected, the synths are fairly clean, and Christiana Key's well sung vocals play very well with the lowness of the music. If this were played for me and I didn't know the artist, I would've guessed this were by EL-P. It's a fantastic track and I would love to hear more in this manner.

Theologian's latest album is consistent, well recorded, and engaging. The addition of female vocals is a nice treat as is the break from dirge and gloom. Lee Bartow has been putting out quality product for over fifteen years, so it should come as no surprise that Some Things Have To Be Endured is a well done release.