(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana) In the meantime, the Blind Idiot God started playing with John Zorn,guru of the New York avantgarde (Epstein even played in a trio withZorn and Elliott Sharp) and their musical status grew by the month.After the EP Purged Specimen (Enemy), a new album,Cyclotron (Avant, 1992), was released.It is another miracle of music at the same time futile and conceptual, anotheressay of manic precision in performing the most imprecise scores one canconcoct, another lecture of erudite "crossover" (funk, jazz, metal,reggae, ...) by a trio of superb musicians. Blind Idiot God also collaborated with Bill Laswell on Sacrifist (1994). Azonic Halo (Strata, 1994) was Andy Hawkins' new project after BlindIdiot God,yet another epic excursion at the edge of rock's sonic horizons but this timevia four lengthy improvised solos (with help from bassist Gabriel Katz).The ten-minute Beyond the Pale unleashes a tornado ofHendrix-ian feedbacks, violent fits of angst-laden hallucination.The twelve-minute Shore explores the other (contemplative) side of the coin via a droning raga-like distortion, first soaring to theskies and then descending again to Earth.The eleven-minute Headwaters sends waves of metallic dissonance against an oscillating drone.The twelve-minute Raze is the gothic, suspenseful closer, sendingalien tremors up cascading walls of white noise that sometimes sound likebaroque keyboards played by the fingers of a mad ghost.Few albums in the history of rock music packed and conveys so much emotionwith such minimal means. The follow-up, Skinner's Black Laboratories (Sub Rosa, 1995),credited to Azonic, was a collaboration with Justin Broadrick of Godflesh.The shorter pieces coin an abrasive version of Robert Fripp's "Frippertronics".The two longer jams are concertos for deformed, hysterical (and extremelyloud) guitar. At the turn of the centuryTim Wyskida of Khanate replaced Epstein on drums. Before Ever After (Indivisible, 2015), Blind Idiot God's first album in 23 years contains music recorded between 2008 and 2010.
This is a collection of shorter piecesbut the instrumental combo from hell has not been tamed yet.Three threads seem to overlap and alternate throughoutthe album: a cacophonous form of speedmetal, Hendrix-inspired fugues andreggae-based dance music.The ouverture, 747, pourstitanic, granitic riffs that pulverize notes and hauls apocalyptic drummingthat accelerates to an almost grindcore pace.The maelstrom infuriates and picks up speed with Thunderhead,a square dance for chainsaws and bazookas.Cloudcover is the ultimate metal experience: guitars and drums aresequenced and looped at high speed leaving only a flow of harsh noise.
In Slackjaw Hendrixian glissandos suffocate the stuttering rhythm,and Hendrix' specter returns inHead On, when a Third Stone From The Sun progression mauls melodywith tornado force.Ever denser, ever less articulated, Cold Start is angst for a fantasy of self-martyrdom.In Broadsidethe guitar washes and the thundering drums obey a mathematical formula.Visceral emotion and mechanical algorithm are the two sides of the same coin.
The third thread may be the most intriguing. Ground Lift,Hangtime andDeath Hollow Canyon Utahdeconstruct reggae, toying with the metallic chords, the reverbed dub and thesyncopated beat, achieving a spirited fusion of reggae, heavy metal andjazz. With Dead Continent Dubthe original stereotype has been vivisected and reassembled: limbs move in agoofy way and control is loose; sounds are shuffled around, beats overflow.
The ugly geometry of these mini-rock symphonies has few precedents in popularmusic. BIG deserve the title of precursors and founding fathers of math-rock.
This transcendent work is the equivalent of Peter Green's End of the Game (1969)for the punk and post-industrial generation: the soundtrack of a soul awash inthe massive neurosis of his era.
