What starts out as a litmus test for how much drone punishment a listener can handle not so quickly becomes an encompassing ritual nearly religious in its scope. Skullflower’s Strange Keys to Untune Gods’ Firmament (Neurot) is a double-disc, 12 track excursion to the outer limits of instrumental noise. There are no songs, no catchy choruses, no pop structures. UK-based guitarist Matthew Bower continues his 20-plus year run of unbridled experimentation, now as the sole creative force within the band.

It is, for most who’d even be brave enough to take it on, completely unlistenable. Bower makes no attempt to meet his audience halfway or do anything that might make his music more accessible. This, for a small but loyal cult segment of the underground, is precisely what has earned him such acclaim these past decades in his various projects, and with Strange Keys to Untune Gods’ Firmament, the idea seems not so much to expand the horizons of noise — because Bower’s already done that — but rather to engage in the rites of the unhinged and to make a work that, apart from the already-stretched limits of its instrumentation, is truly without borders.

That said, there can be no doubt that Skullflower’s latest is bound to be more appreciated than heard. The destructive chaos of these tracks is rampant throughout, and makes most bands who talk of their sound as apocalyptic seem even sillier than they did themselves. Take the vocals out of the first two Godflesh records and play them at quarter-speed. Repeat for two hours and enjoy. Or, more likely, don’t. Doesn’t seem to matter to Bower.

Because while it appeals intellectually in the same sense as much of the abrasive drone Skullflower has influenced these many years, Strange Keys to Untune Gods’ Firmament is, at its base, best received unconsciously. That is, put it on and remove your thoughts from it directly, and you might find that by not meeting it head on, you’re more easily engulfed by it. It’s saying something about the level of distorted mayhem that it’s preferable not to meet it head on, but there’s no way Bower would have lasted as long as he has doing this if he didn’t take it to the extremes he does here.

Whether you classify it as “not for everyone” or “for the stout of heart,” the meaning is the same. There are few to whom Strange Keys to Untune Gods’ Firmament will hold any appeal, and even fewer who will actually be able to make it through both discs of the album. Still, there’s no arguing that Bower knows what he’s doing, and in that sense, Skullflower is as unsettling as they could ever be to experience. Expect the banal and be whipped.

Skullflower’s Unofficial Website

Neurot Recordings

Tags: Neurot, Skullflower, UK

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.