Hopefully Author & Punisher aren’t new to any of you reading this. On the off chance that someone has been drawn in by the vaguely superhero sounding moniker I will give a truncated bio.
Tristan Shone a mechanical engineer from San Diego builds his own “Drone” and “Dub” Machines with which to make colossal sounding industrial (in the true meaning of the word) sonicscapes.
He has previously collaborated with Phil Anselmo and Perturbator’s James Kent and makes music that anyone that digs Justin Broadrick need to check out immediately.
Kruller is Shone’s 9th studio album and the second on Relapse and is just as heavy hitting as Beastland from 2018. He has been busy tinkering with his machines like a supervillain and gathering like-minded folk to help undermine the clean safe music world of 2022.
Some are close to home with Shone’s wife Marilia providing backing vocals on “Maiden Star” and his producer Jason Begin – appearing here as Vytear on the Aphex Twin like glitchiness of Blacksmith. As I lay Dying guitarist – and also Shone’s manager, Phil Sgrosso wrote all the guitar parts and the closeness of his collaborators must surely have helped add organic elements to Author & Punisher’s signature metallic electronic sound.
Two members of Tool get involved with bassist Jason Chancellor jumping in on “Centurion” with some filthy distorted low-end noise and drummer Danny Carey getting involved with Misery. The former is an eerie futuristic apocalypse of a track. The machines have taken over and it is not clear whether Shone is part of the resistance or the voice of the oppressors plotting the desiccation of weak flesh. All to a thumping industrial beat.
“Misery” starts with a combination of synthwave, the hollow clang of steel on steel before the melancholy vocal cuts in joined by a mix of industrial metal and break beats. The result is mix of gothic darkwave and industrial rock that you could either slow dance to or stomp to – maybe a combo?
Elsewhere on the album, opener and first dingle “Drone Carrying Dread” is a star cruiser of a song which evokes Type O Negative vibes and Kate Bush in equal measure. Shone’s languid delivery has a real Steele feel. The track washes over my soul like molten iron ore for its 8- minute length. Emotion is wrenched from the vocal delivery throughout in a style evidenced more in synthwave than industrial.
As with all Author & Punisher releases the word INDUSTRIAL is writ large. This is not a generic description but rather the correct adjective. A & P create music with the sounds of industry. You can hear the metal striking metal, the sound of motors whirring and cogs turning dripping with smoking oil and lubricant. The fact that Tristan Shone’s voice is such a human component makes him the alien in the mix.
The track that features Marilla “Maiden Star” manages to be both soaringly ethereal and packed with the grease and soot of a factory floor at the same time, the gigantic crushing slow beats threatening to crush the gentle synths and shoegaze vocal.
Talking of ethereal the album features a cover version of Bristol’s finest Trip Hoppers Portishead.
Now Glory Box is a track that I often used to open a live DJ set with just to set the mood and give drinkers summat to chill out to. Nothing of the sort here. This is darkness. The lights going out in a replicants eyes, the white fluid draining from Bishop over the cold grey steel floor. Bloody hell. This is deliciously bleak!
“Blacksmith” that I mentioned in the intro melds Jungle with “Intelligent Dace Music” (does that mean the rest of it is daft?). It’s a cacophony of glitch and sci if beats – kinda reminds me of something El-P would have rapped over when I’ll sleep When You’re Dead came out.
The title track that rounds things off is an epic torch song of sorts. It gives off a U2 vibe but one where Bono is peeling back his skin to reveal pulsating wires and gears rather than allegedly dodging tax via European supermarkets. (Listen to the track it sounds like One).
This album is great – it pounds at your ears and plucks at your heart strings. For something so mechanical that is no mean feat.
(9/10 Matt Mason)
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