JK Flesh - Posthuman![]() Posthuman kicks off with the lumbering, sludge pace of 'Knuckledragger' with electronics textures sinking into a pummelling slow paced rhythm bolstered by an ultra-low pulsing bass. Spidery detuned guitars weave their way around distorted and heavily processed vocals. There's a definite Godflesh feel to 'Idle Hands' with its deep abrasive metal riffing and distorted hollering even though its set against skittery hi-hat cymbal rhythms with an undertow of abrasive electronics. 'Punchdrunk' takes things further into noise realms: where reams of twisted, snarling guitar mannerisms merge with Broadrick's heavily distorted processed voice; creating another layer of electronic distortion to the dense, crushing dynamics. 'Devoured' is much more spacious with abrasive electronic throbs, recalling Techno Animal, and scissor-cut rhythms ensnared with sneering guitar lines. It's not really until 'Posthuman' (and the run of following tracks) the beats takes precedence and the album moves into more rhythmic territory, stepping away from the noise and guitars. That's not to say they don't play their part, they do but the beats once buttressed now come to the fore. 'Posthuman' launches with a throbbing bass thud and stuttering clipped electronic rhythms before absorbing almost jungle/drum and bass rhythms before grasping onto a run of electronic rave sequences. With layers of electronic noise it's a fully charged assault of nightmare intensity. There's little let-up from 'Earthmover' either. A heavily layered voice is set against electronic sequences and cymbal-heavy rhythm with mammoth quaking shudders. It's a bit more Techno Animal sounding but also a lot more fucked-up sounding. So too is 'Dogmatic' with its scorched hip-hop rhythms played off against elasticated electronics. JK Flesh's vocals are cut-up and shredded and the guitars make a return in the shape of a disembodied atmospheric squall. The remaining tracks are sparser allowing Broadrick to take the guitars into much more desolate realms on the penultimate track 'Underfoot', while the closer, 'Walk Away' is carried by waves of Jesu-like guitars and an almost unadorned pleading vocal amidst massive quaking shudders bringing Posthuman to a close. Like Mark Stewart's The Politics Of Envy a lot has been written about the dubstep rhythms found here as if there was a need to contextualise this within today's current sound. Who cares though, this is extreme and brutal stuff and if you've taken to his work in Techno Animal, Ice, or his more recent noise releases then Posthuman offers a more bass heavy, electronic and rhythmic version of his brutalised, noise vision that he's been pursuing recently. For more information go to www.3by3music.com |