Cards on the table, I have been immensely fortunate to have been gifted the opportunity this summer to have six weeks paid holiday and whilst not wanting this first paragraph to come across as a gloating puss filled, humblebrag conceitful ballbag of rambling prose, I will say, that not having to do anything aside to decide whether I should drink my coffee by the pool, or in bed was pretty much the only sense of jeopardy I experienced over the summer. That said and as its true of all good things, that they must surely come to an end, and this week has seen me back at the desk, in front of various spreadsheets, as my soul violently attempts to flee my body via my anus. This is no joke, but to comfort me in my hour of need, I am back in front of the typewriter at 6.45am attempting to remember how to type and avoiding, without success, waffling on and spending the first few hundred words of this review of Seattle noise mongers Great Falls’ new album, indulging myself in self-pity.
Straight out of the gate, this is mightily impressive stuff but certainly not for the faint of heart. Opening track ‘Dragged Home Alive’ all creepy suggestive bass and scratchy samples before a lone voice in the darkness wails arias of pain, helplessness, and despair before it explodes into pounding drums, and driving guitars, lurching like a man who has had a breakfast of eighteen pints of Amstel in Wetherspoon’s and is attempting to catch the bus home. Its bleak, desolate and arresting. It’s like a version of Jesus Lizard that has gone off in the sun and started sniffing glue from a half-eaten packet of pickled onion Monster Munch. The album continues very much in this vein, as blast beats and jazz like drum fills, heavy on the floor toms and ride cymbal, punctuate much of the grime and skid marks left by the lone guitar that sounds as though it could level cities and lift oceans. It’s discordant, unpredictable, concussive, and unpredictable. It’s hard to get the sense that the band want you to enjoy this rather than endure it, given how dark and oppressive the material is. The tempo veers from propellant to slumbering throughout the album’s run time but generally remains at a constant, allowing the impassioned and screamed vocals from guitarist/vocalist Demain Johnston to dominate, subjugate and terrify.
I am sure the band wont mind me comparing them with other likeminded scene luminaries peddling this type of blackened nightmare within this musical oeuvre and it would be churlish not to compare them to bands such as KEN Mode who they really do share some DNA with Great Falls in regard to their sound as well as the lyrical content. There are also elements of Kowloon Walled City throughout although it lacks perhaps some of the song wiring nuances and song construction of KWC but it certainly shares their taste for isolationism, angst and anger. I know that bands don’t always appreciate being contrasted or pigeonholed by the FFO comparisons, but within this very specific genre of music, there have been some hugely important, and compelling albums released of late and have marked this genre (certainly by me) as essential. You could also liken Great Falls to Chat Pile in terms of its, sparse yet mightily oppressive quiet, loud, quiet, horrifying, quiet song dynamics.
The album drags itself to a spectacular dénouement, with the thirteen minute long ‘Thrown Against Waves’ that serves up another serving of angst, and despair that permeates everything on this magnificent collection of songs that make up Objects Without Pain. It’s thirteen minutes of gazing into the void, of a human’s open soul, innards glistening like lights on liver, of anger, frustration, and pain. It’s quite the sign off. In conclusion, this album is a hard work, it’s a trail by fire. It’s an endurance race, ran at night, in the middle of a storm, as you carry a bag of rocks whilst nipping from a bottle of cheap gin. It’s cold, frightening, and glorious. I may have been off writing duties for a couple of months, and I may be slightly giddy and prone to bouts of hyperbole, but in a year of great music, bands and albums, Great Falls have come up on the rails of 2023 and produce a body of work that is as stunning as it is misanthropic, bleak and aurally arresting. I may hear better albums this year, but the chances of that seem slim. The bar has been raised. Essential listening.
(9.5/10 Nick Griffiths)
Leave a Reply