Skinny Puppy - HanDover

Delays, delays, nothing but delays. This has been the reality of Skinny Puppy's new album for over two years now. But soon enough, it will be out for the rest of you to partake of and you won't be disappointed, I assure you. This is quite possibly the closest this band have yet come to releasing a full on IDM-based album. I suppose it makes sense in a way; Autechre are becoming more and more song based again whereas Key and Ogre are back out in the twilight zone. 'HanDover' is a very demanding, abrasive and unorthodox record. This pair have stunningly combined their talents into a cohesive work of beguilingly disturbing proportions. Goddamn is this a dark record! There's a lot of pain and loss chronicled in some of these songs, Ogre almost breaks down in one of them only to snap back into focus at the last second. Yes, it is that sort of precision on display here.

I could waste paragraphs chronicling their history and regale you with all manner of incidents throughout their career which would have torn any other band into tiny little pieces, lit them on fire, and then stomped on the ashes. We're very lucky to have them doing this sort of work now. You hear me, industrial boys? NOW. Skinny Puppy have repeatedly been through hell and this is an album done by a pair of tenacious survivors; it really does have the feel of just Cevin and Nivek composing this, probably late at night... with the ringer off the hook. Mighty strange sounds permeate the landscape of this release, many of which I haven't heard before. This has always been the hallmark of what this entity does: it mutates, it contorts, it evolves and it carries on. There's no need to try to make comparisons to others, Skinny Puppy do not do as they do.

Key supplies some truly bizarre combinations of synthetics and decimated rhythms. There are hints of a Banana sporting Sloth throughout this thing; I thought Download's last album, 'Helicopter' was aggressive until I heard what 'HanDover' delivers after the first four songs. There's a wildly demented study of characters which Ogre investigates on the song "Brownstone" that is underpinned by a steady beat and wickedly arranged programming. I'm hesitant to call it that because so much of what's on here feels far too organic to be based on machinery, Key's work really comes across as being from a live session with minimal overdubs. Listen closely and you'll discern very morbid atmospheres on the prowl, especially during the song "Wavy". And about those song titles... I don't feel the need to try and discern their meaning as they're clearly meant to be known only to Skinny Puppy. There's some usage of guitar but it has toned down, way way down compared to their last two recent works. The focus is on electronics being maimed and mutilated until they somehow sound recognizeable. After a fashion.

I've said numerous times in the past that it isn't Skinny Puppy without The Duck and I'd now like to retract that statement. This most certainly is that damn dog, sounding more mongrel and agonized than ever. Incredibly beautiful studies of the most hideous things, a macabre museum of horrific truths. Nivek, Cevin, you guys are on target with a vengeance and these four years of waiting have been more than worth it. The playing field may have become more crowded with chaff these past couple of decades but it's still very much your park that these imps play in. 'Vyrisus' could take down any of these kiddie acts easily, a flexing cacophonous muscle punctuated by a fist at the end beating the shit out of complacent image obsessed clowns who mime on stage and press buttons emphatically. In 2011, this outfit makes me ask the same question I have asked since 1987: how the fuck do they get those sounds? Do not expect safety to find you when you let out the tones on here, as they are myriad in number and will devour you.

They save the most ferocious one for last: a divebombing run directly into a black hole which is entitled 'NoiseX'. Loop upon loop of distorted beats are overlayed with Ogre's voice almost offering up a siren's song to come closer to the malicious frothing shards which whirl and whip about the place in an ever increasingly frenzied supplication for absolute chaos. The new Download and Plateau are going to have some mighty big shoes to fill if they hope to eclipse this material. I'm blown out of my chair each time I listen. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Puppy's new album. I sincerely hope you're up for it. Oct 05 2011