One of the pioneering noise projects of the genre's early 1980s heyday has returned with a new disc that manages to both push the brutal aspect of their discography to its natural limits while still maintaining an ear for subtlety and depth that tends to be lacking in the realms of harsh electronics.
Ground Fault/Hospital Productions
Sutcliffe Jugend were among the creators of what is now known as power electronics and so called 'noise.' While contemporaries Whitehouse tend to get most of the credit, SJ's Kevin Tomkins' time with that band lead to some of their most violent and brutal tracks. SJ (Tomkins and Paul Taylor) has continued on and off since the early '80s, consistently trying new approaches, from pure noise (everything in the early days) to guitar based experimentation (Death Mask), each reinvention saw the duo trying something different. Following up the twin albums for Cold Meat Industries (When Pornography is No Longer Enough and The Victim As Beauty) was a difficult proposition, given the violence and brutality of those two occasionally reached comedically absurd levels (see: "Come on cunt, show me your fucking titties").
After two side project releases (the more atmospheric and experimental Between Silences and Threnody for the Victims of Ignorance, both as just SJ), Taylor and Tomkins have reinstated the Sutcliffe Jugend moniker, and the new work meshes the brutal elements of those earlier incarnations with the experimentation and compositional subtleties of the SJ work. Do not assume the violence has been overly stifled, however: the subtle musical loops of "What If" belie its violent underpinning and otherwordly vocals, and the instrumental closer "Blind Ignorance" is every bit as torturous as anything else in the duo's canon.
Beyond the harsh noise violence lies a great deal of subtlety and structure though, as well as experimentation. "This Is The Truth" features some nearly melodic, almost gospel like vocals from Tomkins with the pulsating digital noise throughout the track. Even more bizarre, "Obsession," opens with bizarre found sounds with some guitar string treatments and what almost resembles a harpsichord. Something must be said for "Pigboy" as well, one of the most hateful pieces of music I've heard, though I suspect the vocals are intended to be much more cathartic than accusatory.
Lyrically this album is an odd beast. Tomkins' shrieks and screams are often buried in layers of effects so the lyrics are not entirely clear, but an overarching theme of existential philosophy and spirituality/spiritualism seems prominent here, which is of much greater thematic depth than is usually associated with this genre. According to their Web site, a great deal of new activity is planned for the coming months, and this sharp spike in productivity should interest anyone who is a fan of difficult/violent music such as this.
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