There’s been a fair bit going on in Concrete Lung Land since last EP Subtract Nerve came out summer 2013. In fact they have had such an upheaval that I’m not even going to moan at them for not releasing a debut album and giving us a six track EP again. Basically the two main members William Reiver and Ed Oxime find themselves relocated from their Manchester homeland to Sweden and Australia! I knew I should have seen the band live when I had the chance. Thankfully the cold grey and drab industrialisation of their sound has not been altered by the change of environment and collaborating via the internet from other sides of the world has not distempered the potency of their sound either.
‘Engine Vein’ pulses in and then crunches hard and heavy with slow monolithic pounding and a doomy bleak mass of coruscating riffs. Vocals roar out and it chugs off as mechanically as the title suggests. It sounds somewhat less experimental than they have in the past with focus on a groove heavy song that simply gets the head banging along to its hefty stomp. The vocals are angry and savage, high in the mix and this really does crunch away before slowly ebbing out like the aftermath of a massive explosion. Chunky and abrasive, ‘Die Dreaming Part II’ has a thick bass heavy feel about it and roars and rages away with coarse vocals and thuggish beats. There is definitely a doom laden element to the industrial surge as it slows with elongated riffs drawn out to a turgid consuming mass to finally down tools and bounce back into things for a final round. ‘Chemical Muzzle’ is probably the catchiest number with its indignant chorus “she wears a chemical muzzle” being spat out amidst the mangled yet melodic music. A bit of mid song chaos unfurls with some squealing guitar parts before that chorus comes back and has you robotically joining in whether you like it or not. The “flush your life away” message here also gets right under the skin.
Longest song ‘Self Shriek (Self Murder)’ stalks and broods with a feel of dystopian futurism about it enhanced by the vocal parts that go from almost spoken chants to rough sandpaper roars and growls and sudden flurries of drumming picking up the pace. The words “drowning” and “crushing” are roared out to particularly good effect. Crows and bells and a real apocalyptic vibe fuels ‘Plastic Mind’ and we get some more experimental parts in the form of drum and bass sounding break beats within the music which really works well with the now robotic vocals which are chilling with an almost “you’re all going to die” clamour. With an incessant call of “Abandon Life” being wretched at you it’s a nice slice of suicidal industrialism if such a thing exists; well it does now! ‘Closed Mouth’ finishes it off in an ugly and brutish fashion with some well placed samples for good effect. It’s a volatile and driving finish even if it is a slow one in essence and with what sounds like some screeching saxophone it really does drag you down to the depths as a final nail in the coffin.
There’s actually a lot going on in these 6 tracks and although there are noticeable elements of bands like Godflesh and Bile here there is a feeling that Concrete Lung have developed a lot more into a an entity of their own right here. As far as geographical barriers are concerned, well the machine is obviously not broken down by them and although the future is unwritten this is a damn good defining statement
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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