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LP REVIEW
"BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL" 1. LET THEM DROWN
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After a consistent set of excellent recordings over the last couple of years Manchester’s Beecher have moved it up yet another gear with the release of “Breaking The Fourth Wall” their debut full length album. Chosen to launch Martin Ives’s (Labrat) new Calculated Risk Products label, with the production by the Converge legend Kirt Ballou and the artwork by Hydrahead’s Aaron Turner, this couldn’t fail to be something special. The album sees the distinctive Beecher sound developing nicely, taking intense screamo noisecore, shooting it full of hallucinogens then making it walk a tightrope of chopping and changing rhythms, while inhaling an infusion of electronic FX. Sure, there are gestures to DEP, Converge and Poison The Well as well as others but they add so much to the mix that they single out a sound their own. It’s simply unbridled, raging and rampant with more than an adequate measure of intricate violence. Every track is quality and deserves to feature but special mentions for “Dead for Weeks” which is so typically Beecher, the ethereal “Burning Surface” that turns and bites, the climactic “Red Diesel” and “Ladder Theory” which provides an atmospheric FX-lead rollercoaster ride. The melodic emo-esque vocals have improved on this recording and are used rather sparingly just at the times required to lighten the mood and providing additional depth against the throat tearing. There are periodic flashes of jazz, particularly in the off kilter drumming patterns and “Floating Point” mixes it up with some off the wall ambient disorder that is at times reminiscent of Aphex Twins. Beecher are the aural equivalent to trusting your best china to an enraged rhino - you can just imagine the chaos there’s going to be - however afterwards there is the joy of finding your favourite mug still intact. This is an excellent album, showing the band at their most intense and thankfully still featuring the occasional trademark big riff that jumps out of the chaos. It’s progressive avant-garde music to sing to your grandmother, it’s never straight forward, always taking the twisting evolutionary and exploratory path and has all the subtlety of arranging flowers with a mallet. Undeniably essential! Rigsby (15th July, 2003) |
