By: “Chad
Opening Needle Progress | website | facebook | bandcamp | soundcloud |
Released on May 1, 2016 via Self-Released
You entering an unknown place with sticky walls and perhaps there’s an alien or maybe not, maybe it’s a robot from the future who wants to eat your soul to power the piston inside his heart that make him hunt down humans for their carbon and boron. BORON! BORON, I SAY! Inside this place is a mystery you’re entering the SCARY DOOR Shock Opera. A journey through sound pushing it to surrealistic limits touching every follicle of noise that one can aurally imbibe on the way.
Fizzy bursts of percussion syphoning psychedelic vocal contortions into a melody. Deep bass curling its tongue around the arrangement. Welcome to the part of the night where you look in the mirror and think “fuck, what is going on here?” ‘Vegetation Slide’ is a delectable appetiser in a delightful album introducing you to something so alien, bizarre and idiosyncratic that it may as well be raw meat. In actuality, it’s more like The Simpsons’ ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish, Blow Fish” where the family tries sushi for the first time, yeah, they’re sceptical that it’s just raw fish but, they cautiously devour it and savour every moment.
‘Bong’ initially reminds me of a Kurt Cobain tape, perhaps a song like ‘Something In The Way’ or one of those snippets from that recent spelunking adventure into the archives. The burst of psychedelia that erupt out of the song make it strangely compelling through juxtaposition. The titling of the track paired with its syrupy eclecticism conjures an image of someone who has done so many rips he can barely keep his eyes open. Again it’s delightful.
‘Cul-De-Sa’c transports the listener to somewhere else entirely. Picture the Metatron scene in Dogma, “what are you gonna do kill me with that fisssh?” and then poof you’re in a restaurant down the street. The inherent humour in the vocal layers makes it almost Zappa-esque or at least like something from Captain Beefheart. This guy is fucking bonkers in the best way. I feel like this track is like what would happen if a theremin came to life and tried to make mariachi music.
A beautifully melted guitar twists out psychedelic licks of playful melody. The ending is almost a surrealistic etch a sketch comprising Alice in Chains playing an acoustic set whilst on a spacehopper, some great Layne Stayley
‘Are We Home Yet?’ Takes the album into a Syd Barrett-esque acapella sing-song. I almost feel like it’s some sort of call and response that I have to learn and I really want to now. It’s almost Andy Kaufman-esque in its almost childlike likeability and veiled genius.
‘Reflections Of A Moth At Mothlight’ for me is the apex of the album. It opens with some excellent sampling discussing the use of PCP set atop an ominous hum of deep noisy synths and carnivalesque Wurlitzer, pitch-shifting, unsettling, surreal almost comical vocals providing a passage of obscurity but, it’s all smoke and mirrors. The final minute of the album realising the vision for a haunted house experienced in such a blissed out state that the horrors inside become figures of sedately joy.
Crunch. Whirl. Swing and slide. A dub beat transmogrifies the fairground haze into a drunken cab ride into hell. Blistering drums crackling in a cacophony of bizarre melon-twisting music. ‘Gita’ is a good example of what to expect on this album; completely unexpected shifts and unpredictable, inimitable music. Whilst every song on this album is different, the sentiment is the same; it’s all like nothing I can think of.
‘Sirens Rhythmic Minds’ sees an ominous piano against some keyboard vocals; the sound reminiscent of a spooky video game section. I just imagine meeting Vincent Valentine for the first time. Opening Needle Progress has a great inner monologue that permeates throughout the album but, here it’s particularly excellent: Every time you look down and loose focus,
“It’ll be there, the symptom that never sleeps,
Keep going, you’ve got to keep going,
But with every relapse the helplessness growing,
The sickness that remains un-showing,
The crossroad options are still the same”
As the spoken track escalates it evolves into a two-headed beast comprising Willy Wonka on his super fun boat ride and Pink Floyd’s ‘On The Run’.
‘Fiscal Dirt’ is an interesting track on the album, it’s almost accessible initially comes off like a mix between Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys/The Last Shadow Puppets but, of course given the nature of this album it doesn’t sink down into the pit. Imagine listening to one of those bands as the acid kicks in and you probably get something close to what this is like. The siren-like tones that sing call and response to each other throughout the track are really beautiful. At times, it’s almost disappointing that the album goes to such a weird place, there’s all the elements here to make something a bit more solid and universal (without selling out, being boring or shit).
‘Out From Everywhere’ is pretty self-descriptive it sounds almost as though it’s a tribute to riding through the desert or travelling through the wider Americas. The vocal layering thicker than a whale omelette (to quote the regent), the guitar a transient Spanish-tinged country strum.
‘It Can’ takes a trip further into the desert, firmly settled in psychedelic rock and deserty post-rock similar to the likes of Grails. Mov Birth takes further into the instrumental psyche rock tundra. Several layers of guitar dance together interlaced in hallucinogenic Spanish guitar hinting, sand-caked expertise. The track tremelos into a crescendo before settling down to a groggily plucked and swept explosion.
The penultimate track ‘Grace/Atmosphere’ teases Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque pop rock but, twists into an experimental blues meltdown, spitting guitar lines and flinging vocals around like swinging fists out of control and violently melancholy.
A soulful burst of vocals somewhat reminiscent of Shannon Hoon or Layne Stayley, straining sadly oozing out melodies. The song has all the makings of a great grunge or rock track but, instead Opening Needle Progress does something far more interesting. The warped, haunted jangle eschews the boundaries of genres and yet beckons the listener in with a familiar intangible magnetism; the visceral explosion of genuine human emotion. ‘I Hope For Implications’ is a spine-twisting, heart-tapping, toe beater of an album closer revealing a possible crux and suggesting more possible directions for the future.
Shock Opera succeeds as a head scratcher but, more importantly showcases an incredibly talented artist with an astonishing versatility.
