An improvisation for just electric guitar and drums, this album comes together as far more than the sum of its parts, due to Gregoretti's often unconventional, yet solid drumming and di Placido's liberal definition of guitar playing. It most certainly makes for an exhausting release as it rarely drops in intensity, resulting in a chaotic, yet fascinating album.
Olivier di Placido's guitar work is drastically different than others who push the boundaries of the instrument, by working with detached necks, broken strings, shorting out the electronics, and so forth, resulting in sounds that rarely sound like they were created with the venerable instrument.Only at times does the identifiable sound of a guitar string being plucked slip through, such as on the opening "Pulci Nella Batteria" and cast within the bubbling murk of "Cascano Pentole".
The former piece is one that stays a tornado of spastic, clattering disorder, but the latter demonstrates a more fleshed out sense of composition.First leading off at a slower pace before slowly piling noises on, the drums eventually going all out on heavy kicks and resonating snares resulting in a satisfying climatic freakout in the closing moments.
"Van Haleine" also showcases this more structured sensibility: from its lurching rhythm that slowly drives along a noisy, flatulent guitar into a morass of pounding drums and eventually shrill, painful cymbals filling the mix at the end.Often though the structure is a bit more hidden and subversive:"So Do I" has a seemingly scattershot guitar squall for the most part, but a tight rhythm section sneaks its way in every so slightly.
Not to discount Gregoretti's drumming at all, because he does an excellent job of passing between explosive blast beats and complex polyhrythms, but di Placido's guitar abuse is what draws the most attention.On "Absurd Blue" he somehow mangles the instrument to sound like a slowly dying jackhammer, while "Repugnant Green" results what sounds like a rainstorm hitting an electrical plant.
As a whole, Mauvaise Haleine is a dissonant, occasionally disjointed sounding work, but it is for that reason that it excels.Like the best of these improv based combos, there are a number of times that the chaos seems to be getting out of control, but is reigned in at just the right time, keeping everything with some semblance of structure.Coupled with the head scratchingly odd employment of guitar and the result is an album that may not be suitable for all moods, but when the situation calls for it, it is splendid.
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