This album is a collaboration between
Justin Broadrick (
Godflesh,
Jesu,
God,
Ice,
Techno Animal, etc.), Dave Cochrane (
God), Diarmuid Dalton (
Jesu), and Aaron Turner (
Isis,
Old Man Gloom, etc.). Its eight songs, most of which run in the eight- to nine-minute range, all feature a breathtakingly heavy combination of huge beats, sludgily dissonant guitar riffs, industrial electronics, and raw-throated howls (where vocals are present at all). None of the beauty of
Jesu or recent
Isis is present here; this album is much more indebted to its principals' earlier work on records like
Godflesh's
Streetcleaner,
Isis'
Celestial,
Ice's Under the Skin, and
God's The Anatomy of Addiction. Indeed, it's a surprise
Broadrick's partner in
God,
Ice, and
Techno Animal (among other projects) Kevin Martin wasn't a part of it. These songs throb and roar, mixed into a wash of gray fuzz with huge, rumbling bass underneath. It's a tribute to all the players' skill and talent that they can take the sound they were working with in the early '90s, and through improvements in technology and mastery of same, make it about ten times heavier than it was back then, even while pulling some of the same sonic tricks. (There's a guitar tone on "Wasted" that's very reminiscent of one deployed on
Ice's "357 Magnum Is a Monster," for example.)
Disconnected is likely to be a one-off, given the astonishingly busy schedules its members keep, but it's no mere diversion; if you're a fan of
Broadrick or Turner, it's one for the permanent collection. ~ Phil Freeman