Review Summary: the weirdest way to say, “Hang in there, it will be ok”.
Desperate times demand desperate responses. In the last two years the world has learned quite a few new things about desperation and hopelessness - as black gives way to blue, new creative forms emerge. Speedy Justice is a relatively new artist (collective?), that utilizes audio to support those in need of mental and emotional support - “attack music/extreme mental therapy” - this is how their latest release Укрытие от Неописуемой Боли (Shelter from Indescribable Pain) is described in their own words. And so far this is the best description of both form and content that I totally agree with.
16 tracks of diverse psychotic assault, brewed upon caveman techno, harsh noise walls, musique concrete, sex-rock, experimentations in folk and dancehall - it’s a plan for disaster, but surprisingly it just works. In order to create Speedy Justice destroys first, and as there is no familiar album structure left, the artist is free to radically explore the wider soundscape. Which can’t help but refer to the better days of industrial as a whole, and specifically Throbbing Gristle: top-notch sampling and exquisite choice of sounds that are used as musical instruments.
Укрытие represents practical audio, not your reactive Atari Teenage Riot. The angst is here, but it’s more supportive, rather than self-proclaiming. The deconstruction here is for the sweet release, not for the shock value. Even the artwork underlines that idea - a simple white background with a black caption.
The second part of the album is sure to evoke that endless despair familiar to any Russian, and it is the social agenda. Talking about Putin and Navalny, heroin and remixing the national hymn - I must say I find this part the most powerful, be sure to check it out on Spotify. And it is the most complex and interesting, well balanced and effective.
This is the music we lack in 2021, all thanks to honesty and bravery of Speedy Justice.
Speedy is justice, and justice for all
