Review Summary: Chaotic rock music
Upon first listen Grand Ulena’s first (and possibly last) album
Gateway to Dignity may be challenging to sit through. Hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, Grand Ulena are a three piece “math-rock” trio often compared to other favorites within the genre such as Don Caballero and Yowie. While Grand Ulena don’t have the abrupt spontaneity of Yowie or the variety of Don Caballero, they make this up by adding a heavy/grind-esque kind of quality to math-rock.
In a nutshell
Gateway to Dignity is forty minutes of schizophrenic rock. Throughout the course of the album the listener is treated with angular, complex guitar riffs, funky bass work, and pulsing, turbulent percussion. The best example of this would be the albums most impressive track,“Crowbar At Crescent and Cricket.” Going from chaotic blasts of noise to heavy guitar riffing, all the way to danceable funk, “Crowbar At Crescent and Cricket” showcases Grand Ulena at their best. The variety of styles within each track is extremely impressive as well as fun to listen to. “Between Tholozan and Oleatha”, the albums ten minute opener ranges from subdued guitar noodling to jagged guitar playing and harsh percussion sounds. Describing each track separately would be kind of pointless since the whole album is a mishmash of unfamiliar and sharp sounds. Thus,
Gateway to Dignity suffers due to the fact that the herky-jerky sounds of the album become uninteresting after a handful of listens, making the album a slightly tedious and inaccessible listen.
Along with anarchic song structures Grand Ulena also show a lot of grind influenced passages on
Gateway to Dignity. These grind influenced moments are so crucial because they appear at the most random and unexpected moments. Right when drummer Danny McClain starts to slow the rhythm down these harsh blasts of noise come out of nowhere. Unlike other so called “math rock” outfits that just noodle around uselessly on their instruments, Grand Ulena contain a more exciting and individual sound.
If anything,
Gateway to Dignity is a unique plunge into the genre of “math-rock.” Molding influences of avant-garde, grindcore, and noise-rock into their music Grand Ulena have created a haywire, yet slightly forgettable album. Despite the fact that
Gateway to Dignity can be an extremely harsh listen it’s an effective album when I’m scanning my music for something different.
