Slighter’s work has ranged across electronic genres. But ever so often he delves into an industrial past that includes remixing Front Line Assembly. Here’s an album’s worth of commited largely industrial sounds on the aptly titled Erode, here in its deluxe edition. An intensive immersion in a world of chaos and confusion. All hope may be lost but this is perfect for all rock gods this festive season.
The album opens with Activate. A real statement of intent. Distorted guitars and electronics, growling vocals and the start of the end of the world. Forward Edge with Royb0t is more obviously electronic, opening with some IDM ambient scuttling and cavernous dub, it eventually unfurls to some scuzzy beats and pounding drums.
Mute Yourself wades through industrial treacle. Electronics buzz and the bass heaves like the movement of tectonic plates. The remainder is full of drones and impending doom. Turmoil delves even deeper into dystopian realms. Ghost of Me has that widescreen cinematic, slightly orchestral, feel. The mood is dark. Big crashing chords but slow enough to have an ambient element to it. An anxious wander in a dark disorienting landscape.
The opening to Fail forms the first pause for the album to draw breath. All asthmatic sounds and jagged guitar flakes. Lights Out returns to the darkness but with a vocal that gives it a more rock dynamic sense of space. Quite, dare I say, Depeche Mode. Disinformation shows creeping paranoia with lyrics of I’m so tired of hearing excuses. Walls of guitar crash over you in ever larger waves.
Anthesis is the first evidence of hope. It draws its title from a term meaning the flowering period of a plant, from the opening of the flower bud. There are human scale strings and piano. On Error, that hope recedes but isn’t completely gone. The mood is deep, dark ambient. The problem is the system we’ve created. Penultimate track Rise is optimistic industrial, if that isn’t an oxymoron. Flexible rock dynamics fit inside a warped electronic structure. It shows that, despite the dystopian bulk of the album, positive elements remain. The final track is Background Noise. Operating a bit like end credits, this is a rather wonderful industrial, ambient, wah wah track. How cool is that?
The deluxe edition then has a bonus track and five remixes. The bonus track is Pulser (Vox Dub). The is industrial dub of an updated mid 90s vision. The first remix comes from Dean Garcia (ex-Curve) who offers Mute Yourself – Muted Hero Mix. A narcoleptic version of the original on large doeses of Nightnurse. Next, Keith Hillibrandt provides Error – Error’d Out Mix. This keep the ambient sense of the original but bestrews it with big slashes of dark guitar and a distorted vocal. Activate – Deactivated Mix is remixed by Brook Gondek but wthout properly adding anything to the original. John Girgus’ take on Lights Out – The Legendary House Cats Mix is a bit of a shock. This is almost a dark house tune. Rather lovely. The final track is Disinformation – Sound The Alarms Mix. It breaks out the synths but retains the paranoiac vocal from the original in an even more anxious state.
An album that asks a lot of the listener. But has a lot to offer in return.
Blurb: ERODE, the 2017 album from Slighter. Features collaborations with royb0t (Digital Gnosis), Cyanotic (Glitch Mode Recordings) & Craig Joseph Huxtable (Ohm/Landscape Body Machine). This ‘Deluxe Edition’ includes remixes from Dean Garcia (Curve/SPC ECO), Keith Hillebrandt (NIN/Useful Noise), Brook Gondek (Amnestic), John Girgus (The Legendary House Cats/Aberdeen) & Rob Robinson (Sergeant Sawtooth/Hate Dept.)
Posted in slighter
Tags: electronic, industrial, slighter
