Review Summary: Murcof and Russian Circles are left in the cogwheels of an abandoned factory gone haywire.
Fowl deals with the human processing of the ornery – the filth we feed upon to entertain us, to sate our hunger, to gratify our sexual desires, to escape our reality or simply to facilitate our survival. Fowl is an exploration of the consumption of filth, the nourishment it provides and the way we excrete it back into the world, calling into question the notion of morality and its place in an increasingly faithless populace.
This is a beautiful mission-statement, the filth they speak of is present in atmosphere on Fowl, but hardly in sound.
Heirs, Australian-based post-whatever band, create a mesmerizing tour through an abandoned industrial complex, filled with the remains of humanity. The record is beautifully constructed, with a clear, desolate song to start the tour with (Dust), and a pulverising torrent of noise to reduce the listener to a weeping pile of filth as an ender (Drain).
Added to the "standard" post-set of guitar/bass/drum/keys is the theremin. This eerie, wailing sound weaves itself through the grime and the pounding, calling out for help, for contact of any sorts, for an ending of this torrent of noise perhaps. It is a brilliant move to use this instrument, because due to this, they have a truly remarkable, individual style.
The sound of the record is spacious, the guitars create distant walls of sound at times, giving the impression that none if left inside the building. But the droning, grating, pounding bass reminds us that there is something wrong here. It is as if you can feel the hammering of the machines in the storage room at the opposite side of the building, but what could be produced here, now?
In the middle of the record, you are caught between the machines, the guitars batter on the ears, coming from all sides with both amazing riffing, desolate notes and reverb-laden waves of drone whilst the industrial battering of the drums make sure that nothing will be left standing when you come out.
Near the end, the soothing tones of (Mother) tell you that it's okay, we made it, but the soothing goes on for too long... did we make it? What is this hallway? And where does that door lead to? Will we get out?
This record is without a doubt in my top three of the year, they create an eerie, modern sound that I have yet to hear somewhere else.
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