Download
The Eyes Of Stanley Pain
You'd think that with the astounding release schedule that Download has arranged for itself
that the music would begin to suffer from delusions of grandeur and slip into recursive state but
it simply has not been the case. If anything the music has become more diverse and has pushed the
envelope of the electronic music genre beyond the boundaries that most sane artists would have
stopped short at years ago. Instead the this uncanny quartet of musicians with more than a half
centurys of musical talent between them have once again astounded us. Download refuses to be
stalwartly classified within one particular genre and would rather be content to explode forth
from the hallowed confines which I as a reviewer might normally try to impose upon them. The few
lyrics that are used are nothing less than exposes which explore the inner cinema of the soul.
Those of weak hearts and minds who cannot grasp change are kindly asked to stay home lest they be
thrown into paraplegic spasms from violent time signature changes and innovative use of the absence
of sound to complete the composed pieces of music. Once again Download has redefined the way we
should look at conventional electronic music pointing towards a distant horizon where the stand
waiting for a brief moment the rest of the world to catch up.
Sonic Boom
Download seem to be remarkably productive these days, and The Eyes Of Stanley Pain is the fourth
release and the second full length album from the group in less than a year. However, it's most
certainly not a case of "that difficult second album" for Download, as TESP is, if anything, even
more impressive than Furnace was. It retains the chaos, density and energy of the first album but
moderates it a little, adding a stronger rhythmic element that holds everything together much more
cohesively than on their debut.
The album gets off to a very impressive start with "Suni C", a well-crafted and deeply layered
fusion of complex, high-BPM rhythms, clever electronics, and Mark Spybey's distorted, half-spoken
vocals. The lyrics are a little too "hey, wow, let's all be trees and groove with the universe"
for me, but they don't detract from the overall effect too much. Also, it might just be my
imagination, but the track has a much more Puppy-esque feel than Furnace did. I'm certainly not
complaining about that.
"Possession" is equally energetic, with further hints'o'Puppy, and a more distorted, aggressive
vocal. Again, the track is technically outstanding - with layers upon layers of rich, dark noise
twisting and mingling. It doesn't take a huge leap of the imagination to see this as being the
sort of thing Skinny Puppy might have come up with around now had they been left to their own
devices. "The Turin Cloud" is a little more conventional, with a pounding techno beat under the
heavily distorted vocals. Generic techno it ain't, but the reference points here are definitely
more strongly biased towards contemporary dance. "Glassblower", which appeared in a remixed form
on the "Sidewinder" EP is another driving dance track, with some wonderfully crunchy percussion
battering away behind more distorted vox and assorted electronic burbles and twangs. Dense and
dissonant, it's an outstanding track.
The next track, "H Sien Influence" sees the return of Genesis P. Orridge on vocals. GPO provided
some of the vocal contributions to Furnace, although they were remarkably annoying in places. This
time he's largely restricted to spoken word material and his voice lacks that irritating whiny
quality. Musically the track's an interesting combination of strained cornet (shades of old TG
material), the GPO vox, interesting samples and a very familiar Puppy-style beat. "Base Metal" is
another "Sidewinder" track, and I like this original version as much as I did the remix from the EP.
"Collision" is notable both for its (excessive?) length and the possession of an improvised
quality that's more reminiscent of Furnace than the other material on the album. While most of the
music on Stanley Pain is pretty chaotic and complex, it always seems planned, as though every sound
has been precisely placed. This wasn't the case for Furnace, which was less disciplined and more
spontaneous, and it's also not the case for "Collision", which careers back and forth between
techno, DVOA-style noise, and Puppy-isms (particularly towards the end, where it turns into
something straight off a recent SP album, albeit with different vocal processing). The hints of
that band continue in "Sidewinder", where you half expect Nivek Ogre's voice to start at any time.
It doesn't, though, and the track grinds down into something like dub reggae put through a car
crusher. "Outafter", by contrast, is a remarkably light techno track with only a distinctive
synth melody and darkly fuzzy bass line hinting at its origins. Oh, and there's what sounds like
a sample of TG's "Discipline" in there too, although whether that came from the source or via
FSOL's "Central Industrial" is anybody's guess. Heading rapidly past the rather pedestrian
"Killfly", Genesis P. Orridge reappears on "Separate". He's a bit more irritating this time,
but his vocals contrast nicely with the distorted Spybey vox and his lyrics are, if nothing
else, interesting. Musically the track is slow and dark, more reminiscent of the Key/Goettel
side project Doubting Thomas than Skinny Puppy.
The twelfth track, "Seven Plagues", is an interesting gobbit of dark, thumpy dance. "Fire This
Ground", which features instrumental contributions from GPO and Psychic TV colleague Larry
Thrasher, is subtitled "Puppy Gristle Part 1", perhaps indicating that it's supposed to be a fusion
of Skinny Puppy and Throbbing Gristle. The fact that it doesn't sound it, but rather sounds more
like Puppy in one of their noisier moods, is perhaps a testament to the fact that Genesis P.
Orridge and Throbbing Gristle were not (as GPO seems to think) one and the same, and that the
other three members of TG also made important contributions to the band's sound. Not a bad track,
but it does seem to trade off the reputations of those involved a little too much. Finally, the
title track is dark and noisy but ultimately not particularly satisfying.
I've got mixed feelings about the album. It's certainly an excellent album, but at times one gets
the impression that the high production values, and the intricate, dense and fascinating layers of
noise form a beautiful sonic edifice surrounding...not very much. For those who liked the last
Download album it's worth getting just for the technical accomplishment, and I'd also imagine
that many Puppy fans who were put off by Furnace will find this one much more palatable. However,
where Furnace sounded truly original, heading off in half a dozen new directions all at once
without sounding too obviously derivative of anything, The Eyes Of Stanley Pain is without a
doubt something that Key/Goettel had a hand in.
So, a triumph of form over substance perhaps, but when you've got a form like this, who cares?
While on the subject of "form over substance", mention must also be made of the packaging. While
this is very attractive to look at, with little folding panels and yet another example of Dave
McKean artwork (the man's almost as ubiquitous as Stephen R. Gilmore was a few years back) it
is also unbelievably flimsy and looks likely to scratch the disc.
Rating this one's tricky, since while Furnace is more original, more innovative and more
deserving, The Eyes Of Stanley Pain is just great listening. So I'll chicken out and give it
the same rating I gave the first album.
Al Crawford
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