Blue Sabbath Black Cheer & Nihilist Assault Group – Planned Obsolescence LP (Gnarled Forest)
I get it. For some reason, an obsolete future is not a hard vision to form in relation to either of these outfits, or for that matter, anyone within their secret-handshake club. Now, a little harder to swallow is the idea that either is actually prepared or totally enthused about total and terminal obsolescence at some juncture on down the road. They may be happy, lifting a finger to entertain the same 200 to 400 people with each release, or they may be ingrates, respectively, but no one involved is allowed to say “we make music for ourselves … not an audience” with a straight face, even after they’ve laid a side like either of these. I’m guessing that’s a shared attitude or is nurtured by one or both of these entities, though confirmation has not come this way. As far as each side is concerned, well, it shouldn’t be a concern. A more interchangeable pair of noise-burps doesn’t exist, and maybe that was the point. If you’ve already landed this, you most likely have several if not a TON of albums that sound exactly like this one. No discernible melody. Distorted gurgling is the focus. One-dimensional, ragged sheets of noise from a partially-operating table of FX boxes, etc. No shifts or changes worth mentioning. If a riff has ever entered Blue Sabbath Black Cheer’s musical vocabulary, it’s a slip-up everyone’s too embarrassed to even joke about. This is the anti-individualist, anti-heart, anti-riff, anti-urge-to-throw-on, anti-mood, anti-clarity, anti-involved, anti-endeavor…this is the anti-good. (http://gnarledforest.blogspot.com)
(Andrew Earles)
