Progression is a nature idea in the world. Without progression, where would we be today? Living in caves, killing our meat with stones? Would we even “be” in an evolutionary sense? Every day revolves around this simple fact that our lives and the earth and the universe will progress and continue towards an end. Yet, this progression can yield art and beauty, hatred and warfare. Out of this seemingly small word, we get billions of years of transgression and growth. This word, naturally, finds its way into art and music.
This leaves us at Genghis Tron. Ah, yes, the seemingly indescribable “cyber/technogrind” band has matured and progressed towards another indescribable self. Whereas
Death Mountain Mouth was filled with synth-laded blast beats and grinding passages,
Board Up This House kicks it back a bit and lets more of the electronics take over. That isn't to say that the chaotic, grinding passages are gone, but it's lessen it to a certain degree.
While their style hasn't completely changed, it has definite signs of progression and maturity. Clean vocals show their way into some songs, as in the case of
Things Don't Look Good or
Board Up the House. The later half of the
Things is a great example of this maturity. While it starts off with some chugging riffs, it comes in full speed with some intense drumming, but later recesses into a slow and almost calming distortion.. The guitar comes back in full at the end, but the dissonance lasts just a few seconds until the album cuts to some ambience in the form of
Recursion. The track isn't surprising if you've listened to Genghis Tron before, but it can catch a new listener off-guard with its smooth melody. While
Recursion clocks in at a little over a minute, it leads into
I Won't Come Back Alive, which continues the laid-back ambience of Recursion. A minute or so in, the guitars crush and pummel their way into the speakers, and the track takes on a more abrasive nature. The track, being the longest on the album, transcends from ambience to metal multiple times. The song's
The techno sections have a very dance-able feel to them. With the distant-sounding clean vocals and complex programmed drums, it almost feels at place next to Aphex Twin. It lacks the intricacies and melody that his work has, but the influence is obvious. That is to say, there are a lot of electronic sections to the album. A close guess would be that around 50% of the album is some form of electronic music, and the other half is their abrasive, dissonant technical grindcore.
The guitars on the album are rather complex, and it makes itself obvious from the opening of
The Feast or
Endless Teeth. The technicality is used in a tasteful way in that it isn't mindless shredding and it doesn't detract from the overall sound. The only problem with this, is that the synth really steals the show. The huge focus on electronics almost ruins any time the guitar really has to shine, and may diminish the album's quality if one weren't into such synth-based music..
While the bone-crushing grindcore of the past hasn't exactly been replaced, it's grown up and found a new place in this niche that
Genghis Tron call theirs. The album is full of surprises, even for a Genghis Tron fan. That being said the album isn't very catchy and memorable and may be easily forgotten in the sea of great albums being released this year.
Pros
Guitar's technicality is tasteful
Electronics are done very well
The band has progressed plenty
Cons
Synth focus can take away from guitars
Electronics may be overdone for some looking more for their previous sound
