Review Summary: sink into a sea of red
Most notably appearing together on Napalm Death's seminal 1987 grindcore debut LP
Scum, extreme music pioneers Mick Harris (Scorn, LULL) and Justin Broadrick (GODFLESH, jesu) reunite on the brief and brutal split EP
See Red. Released on Broadrick's own Avalanche Recordings label, each of the artists tags in and out on here to take two tracks apiece - Harris as his relatively unknown MONRELLA alias and Broadrick using the more familiar JK FLESH name. What they present here are four stark, nasty tracks of completely unforgiving "dancefloor-slaying" industrialized techno music, which should come as no surprise; anyone acquainted with either of these artists' output knows that they're perfectly content to abuse their listeners' eardrums with absolute filth. The pair's styles sync up quite nicely here, as it's pretty much indistinguishable which tracks are the MONRELLA tracks and which are JK FLESH without checking the credits.
At the core of each of these four tracks is a minimalist but relentless, heavy pounding bass pulse that seems fully intent on beating something - anything - into submission. This *** hammers massive - it demands to be cranked at full volume... "PLAY LOUD"... Obviously, paired with the title, rage is the emotion that initially jumps clearly into mind through the nonstop pummeling, but the shifting and shuffling electronics and effects that surround and combine with that driving core of rage evoke anxiety and paranoia as well. They also unveil a bit of an old-school techno vibe indicating that these guys are likely nodding their heads to a scene of the past and even bringing the age of the tracks themselves into question.
Although this thing is abrasive through-and-through and both artists exhibit nearly identical crushed (or is it crushing?) styles, if anything, the MONRELLA tracks might be the more club-friendly here, particularly the opening track "BIG GAME", as the additional electronics surrounding the thumping bass on the JK FLESH cuts give off a greater vibe of anxiety typical of that project. This can be felt, for instance, on track two "Poundland", probably the starkest and most punishing track here, where there is a growing effect that rises through the track, making it feel more and more grating and blown out until it finally lets up only to seemingly begin immediately building again. And by the closing track "BASIC HUMAN DENIAL", through the numbness, you realize this whole thing has been some paranoid nightmare where you're the victim of a seal clubbing at the hands of some soulless, dancing machine wielding a blunt steel implement in one hand and a sack of bricks in the other while walls close in from all sides... or perhaps it's the other way around and it's a raging, dancing seal doing the clubbing... either way, you're not coming out of this one feeling much of anything, so just nod your head and sink into a sea of red.
