Review Summary: But a lesson was taught/Think of the next
In the course of less than six months, Brendan Nixon’s proven himself to be quite a proficient musician in-studio. The artist formerly known as Apparitionist has released a myriad of EPs since the project’s inception, and reached a new peak with his full-length debut,
White Noise. It’s been a hell of a journey, and quite amazing how quickly he’s managed to shift and evolve in such a short amount of time, especially so for somebody so young. Just under three months later, Nixon is back at it again with his sophomore LP, entitled
Unsound. With the new Sensory Deprivation moniker, he’s been able to craft yet another excellent piece of harsh, noisy, experimental punk, all without causing the metaphorical bread and butter to go stale.
Unsound opens up with a two-minute long instrumental, immediately setting the stage for the rest of the album. The sinister, unpleasant melody of the guitars combined with the grating, unfazed drumming is unnerving to say the least. From there, the music twists into a downward spiral of disoriented, clamorous riffing and distorted, detached vocals, as is usual of Sensory Deprivation. “Self-Degrading Plan” particularly comes to mind, with its runtime clocking well over seven minutes and chilling closing lines,
“Call it depression/Call it complaining/But it might be closer/Closer than you think”. “Voynich” stands out as well, combining all of Sensory Deprivation’s signature components alongside a haunting outro that slowly fades out over the course of nearly an entire minute. Closer “Resound” is especially memorable due to the incorporation of more experimental and industrial elements, adding to the already dystopian feel of the music.
Most of all, though, nothing feels redundant or monotonous about
Unsound. Throughout the course of its forty-minute runtime, the album constantly feels dynamic and interesting, despite bearing a remarkable amount of similarities to most of Sensory Deprivation’s other releases. As overused as it may be, the idea of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is applied in spades here, and it ultimately ends up working for the better. So, the next time you’re looking for a dreary, unyielding preview of a totalitarian future for humanity, let
Unsound be your personal soundtrack.
