Scorn's third album was a groundbreaking and seminal release, as Napalm Death’s former rhythm section finally shook loose the last vestiges of their metal past to attain the sinister strain of dub that they came to be known for. Unfortunately, it was also one of the last times that things went well for the project, as Mick Harris would soon be hit by the mercurial Nick Bullen's departure, creative differences with Earache, and a precipitous decline in the popularity of the isolationism genre.
 
It is uncanny how much influence Napalm Death has had on both my musical evolution and that of the underground in general (both directly and indirectly).No one could have anticipated that the anarcho-punk-loving trio of Mick Harris, Justin Broadrick, and Nick Bullen who recorded Scum in 1986 (an album that holds only passing interest for me) would eventually split into such disparate and pioneering entities as Scorn, Godflesh, Jesu, and Lull.I remember both Evanescence and Godflesh’s Streetcleaner both making such a splash upon their release that they even managed to appear in publications that were mainstream enough to reach me in the cultural backwaters of central New York (this being before widespread Internet use, of course).As such, they were both gateways to a whole world of unpopular musics (dub, dark ambient, noise, etc.) that I may not have discovered otherwise.
Listening to Evanescence 16 years later, I am surprised by how well much of it holds up.The heavy shuffling beat and deep bass groove of the opening track ("Silver Rain Fell") still explodes out of the speakers and elicits involuntary head-bobbing.Nick Bullen's vocals are still as confounding as ever though: they are incomprehensible, amelodic, and buried very low in the mix.In retrospect, they seem very unnecessary and like they were a grudging afterthought, but I suspect that being a "band" with a "singer" and "songs" was probably an important factor in Scorn's relative popularity in those days.That said, Bullen's bass playing is awesome.Even though later Scorn releases like Gyral are arguably better than Evanescence, I definitely miss his presence.Apparently he is a baker now.I suspect that I will eventually hear about him again in association with some sort of extreme and genre-smashing type of new bread that stuns the bourgeoisie.
Of course, "Silver Rain Fell" is not a fluke.In fact, "Falling" is even more propulsive and substantially more psychedelic (and probably the best song on the album).Bullen's vocals are almost nonexistent on it, relegated to just a heavily processed background sound, yielding the foreground to the incredible and complex beat and a swirling barrage of disorienting synthesizers and samples.This was a good move."Days Passed" is also a pretty brilliant track, as it sounds like Harris and Bullen decided to take PIL's Second Edition sound and tweak it by making it heavier and removing the obnoxious vocals (I think Keith Levene and Jah Wobble would be very impressed).Also, Harris's atmospheric sampling collages are particularly inspired and surreal here.The thumping, didgeridoo-inflected "Exodus" (featuring Bullen's most melodic vocals) and the warped and shuddering ambient closer "Slumber" are also quite excellent.
That said, Scorn is a band that is best taken in song-sized doses.Mick Harris is extremely good at what he does, but what he does is very narrow.The Scorn sound can basically be summarized as "a cool groove with some trippy stuff happening over it."In a 5-minute dose, that can sound amazing, but it yields diminishing returns over the course of an hour.Also, some songs don't age well, like the bombastic "Automata," which sounds like it could have been an out-take from The Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Taste-era Ministry.The horror movie piano of "Silver Rain Fell" and "Night Tide" also sounds a bit heavy-handed with the passage of time.Despite its flaws, however, Evanescence is an album that was very, very much ahead of its time.While dubstep and artists like Burial enjoy quite a bit of popularity and influence today, making dark and noise-damaged dub music in 1994 was decidedly not the cool thing to be doing.
(Note- Earache has recently reissued Evanescance as a double-album with Ellipsis)
Samples:
 
Read More
