Review Summary: Lower the volume and your expectations
In an attempt to create auditory Armageddon,
Enbilulugugal decided that the best method was to record what could potentially have been a solid album and then completely ruin it by distorting EVERYTHING on
The End is Extremely ***ing Nigh. Within moments of starting this album up, the listener is assailed by a wall of pointless, aimless noise. After a short duration, a sound bite starts up and informs, in a clinical manner, the effects atomic and hydrogen bombs have once they have been detonated and in the process it also explains what that annoying wall of noise was at the beginning of the track; it was the aural equivalent of a bomb after detonation. Now, the real music can begin.
Well not quite, because with few modifications that are only barely audible and almost impossible to sit through and actually uncover, the entire album sounds like the aftermath of good music unjustly butchered and destroyed. From start to finish, the album is drenched in all-consuming distortion in various degrees, all of which is undeniably irritating. This albums greatest crime is that it manages not only to be extremely difficult to listen to, but through the thick haze the remnants of a respectable album are still discernable. The music you manage to hear through all the distortion sounds pretty good, but the abysmal production ruins it completely. The vocalists’ screaming overpowers everything, and in conjunction with the thick distortion it manages to be the most annoying component of the album. ‘XXXIII’ for example, displays some impressive instrumentation that is unfortunately smothered by the vocals and distortion, both of which choke the life out of everything. Some of the ‘sound bite’ tracks are actually quite effective, all of which are denoted in the track list as variations of ‘…..’. The content is quite chilling and the distortion is pretty much at its lowest point here so that the words are intelligible. But when spoken word excerpts are the best part of an album, there really can’t be much hope for the rest of the content. ‘XCIX’ is probably the best ‘proper track’ on the album and it actually sounds pretty good. This is mostly because it contains the least vocal/distortion input, and the vocalist uses a screechy technique as opposed to the infuriating screams elsewhere on the album. It’s not so much an album highlight though, just the most inoffensive, listenable example of what
Enbilulugugal produce.
It’s at about this point you start to realise that even though the end of this album is ‘extremely ***ing nigh’; the end really isn’t such a bad thing after all. Overall, the experience that this album offers is simply painful. There is really no reason to subject oneself to the album because there is almost nothing to be gained from it. What potentially could have been a ‘good’ piece of music has been augmented beyond recognition and makes this album feel more like a desecration than just a disappointment. Hopefully the real Armageddon isn’t as agonizing as sitting though this album proves to be.
