This album has a loose theme of language masking truth as denoted by the Rumsfeldian thrust of its title, This is explored with tracks such as King Of Misinformation, Cyborganization and The Known Unknown.
On the latter the grinding rhythms give hints of the noise band The Skull Defekts once were. Now their sound is rooted in more conventional riffs which are often reminiscent of Joy Division's Dead Souls.
The follow up to 2011's Peer Amid is the Swedish group’s third release as a quintet, with Daniel Higgs joining Joachim Nordwall and Daniel Fagerstroem on vocals.
Higgs is a remarkable solo artist and also fronted the excellent Lungfish in some style. He is described as being group's' "spiritual ringleader" and he also produced the album's artwork. It is therefore strange and disappointing that his performing role is relatively marginalised and muted here. There's certainly nothing as primal as Gospel Of The Skull or as wild as What Knives, What Birds; two distinctive tracks to be found on Peer Amid.
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The bearded one's distinctive growl is only really evident of the brief Awaking Dream. Perhaps Nordwall and Fagerstroem feel they have learned enough to carry the mantle without him but, if so, they are mistaken.
On Venom it seems as if the Swedes are trying to imitate their mentor but can never hope to replicate the tension that Higgs brings.
While the blend of strident Shellac-style post punk and mantra-like chants is full of energy the album falls short of the band's stated ambition to create their most extreme, challenging rock record. Here they are more like a poor man's Swans.
The Skull Defekts' Tumblr page
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