Turbulent Resurgence
Willowtip
The first and most important thing to know about Turbulent Resurgence: there is absolutely nothing even vaguely resembling “Noisearuption” to be found here. Sure, you have to sit through totally disposable intro/outro/intermission tracks, but they’re all a minute long and easily skippable. Other than that, Noisear don’t really deviate an iota from their wonted M.O. Dorian Rainwater’s elastic riffs get twisted and mobiused around Bryan Fajardo’s Swiss watch-precision drumming. The Noisear formula is pretty familiar and settled at this point: Human Remains’ weirdest noises, slick Discordance Axis aggression, shards of Mortalized’s extra digit guitar wizardry, head-scratching Gorguts excursions and just a soupcon of James Plotkin’s most outré grind experiments get pureed and synthesized into a smooth shelled sonic suppository.
While the results are familiar, Turbulent Resurgence is still a bit of a mixed bag. Tipping the positive side of the ledger, the album is a lean 18 minutes, making it Noisear’s tightest, most compact offering in quite a bit. It’s a refreshing change from the overlong (not even counting “Noisearuption” on Subvert the Dominant Paradigm). However, Turbulent Resurgence is also lacking the latter’s dervish frenzy as well. The production is flatter and more to the point, as are most of the songs. That means there are fewer dizzying heights and murky lows to be found. Instead, Turbulent Resurgence finds Noisear grinding along at a (relatively speaking, this is Noisear, after all) even keel.
None of that is to say Turbulent Resurgence is a disappointment. For long time Noisear fiends, the latest record will excite all the appropriate cortical nodes. For newcomers, the leaner running time is the perfect entry into the band’s extradimensional aspirations. While casual grind fans will probably enjoy this one just fine, your serious blastbeat junky might walk away hoping for just a little bit more.
[Full disclosure: Willowtip sent me a download.]
