Sonically, END deliver their greatest achievement yet. Riffs come flying from Greg and Will’s lab in breakneck speed, while epic evil villain chords soar down from the skies (think 1:30 into “Thaw”). Murphy’s poetry continues to remain a bit illusive (particularly, the odd “you fucked the faith out of me), but split between so many records between two super productive bands, and the amount of work that goes into this lifestyle, I’m sure to be the odd one out. There’s a mysterious element to this album, a trait of mischief, almost as if the album is consistently trying to push itself forward away from something it is, but isn’t, and is somehow self-aware and can combust at any moment. Like that explosive intro on KMFDM’s “WWIII”.
Given what we know about who’s in the band and what roles they play, we can essentially get just about anything dished up to us from either Graphic Nature or Silver Bullet. The tracks weave through chaotic DNA abrasive metallic hardcore we’re familiar with and then suddenly dump into an eclectic digital piece, that somehow stitches itself in effortlessly as if it’s some sort of gradual release of steam reflecting the progression, like a train pulling into the station that’s sizzling on the tracks.
END doesn’t punish us the way Candy just did on their last record, or how Full of Hell would ruin their live sets for just about the first ten years of their career with adding these new features. While I’m sure there was a point to all this, it’s only until recently that I’ve seen both Candy and Full of Hell be able to evolve into a mature, more self-actualized version of their vision. END’s efforts are different. They are polished, sound, intentional “digitry.”
For all its intentions, it is clear the band is here to shed their underdog quality and elevate themselves into a higher tier and the record definitely does do that. So if you thought that new Harms Way record that came out a few weeks ago was intense, wait until you get a load of this one.
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