Review Summary: Hair still flows! Nails still grow!
Self proclaimed 'casino grind' band Trencher have certainly created an album with plenty of atmosphere. The quintet from London established themselves as one of the most exciting bands you've probably never heard of in Britain with the release of the terrific LP Lips in 2006, fusing noise, grind, synth and God knows what other elements brilliantly.
This time round though the band appear to of lost the energy and utter ferocity of Lips, opting instead for a darker experience. Make no mistake though, this band will still kick you in the dick. The atmosphere culminates nicely after the introductory track slides into the stomach churningly heavy 'Maggots' which showcases Trencher's slower, more doom orientated sound.
'***ing a Corpse' begins with an onslaught of Locust-esque percussion, presented to you by the band's talented drummer Lock Monger. The song culminates into the terribly catchy shout of "Still makes me stiff!" which is accompanied nicely by some simple, but satisfying, synth work. And of course a sense of shame.
The fourth track 'Vlad Tapas' again showcases drummer Lock Mongers ability, and it is probably my favourite track, combining all instruments brilliantly with singer M. ***s switching between deep growl and haunting half scream half anguished moan. This track is an example of why toy keyboards and doom surprisingly work well together, the synth again adding a much needed extra layer to what I fear would otherwise be a pretty standard song. This culminates nicely in an orgy of noise that leads to the eerie track 'White Light/Black Plastic'.
The bass is given a much more prominent role in this track, the first 90 seconds reminding me of Head Wound City's track Michael J. Fux, not because of any musical plagiarism, but because of the hypnotic tune it drilled into my skull. This leads to what can only be termed as a hideously demonic three minutes of big drum hits, guitar slugging and bass smashing accompanied by the eerie synth and quasi-medieval religious chanting of M. ***.
Then the album finishes with three minutes of guitar feedback. Which is nice. I suppose. Whilst adding to the atmosphere, I did feel slightly cheated.
Overall, All Suffering Soon To End is a very solid album. It conveys a lot of emotion and atmosphere which a lot of noise influenced bands fail to convey, the LP itself is very haunting and songs like 'Maggots' and '***ing a Corpse' really resonate in the memory. Some of the tracks do feel slightly padded out however and there are no tracks that demonstrate Trencher's ability to melt your face off with frenzied noise like the Lips track 'Two Semis Don't Make a Hard On'. It's still a very good listen though, particularly if you're partial to a bit of demon possessed noise.
