ninehertz

It has been three years since Last’s last record Sifting Through Ash… but the impression it made still burns strong. They return with Potent Desperation, on the evergreen Transylvanian Recordings, having grown further into their distinctive world of industrial sludge.

It begins within a chaos of instruments like gurgling pits of hell, through which Neurosis style vocals shout to be heard. A wonderfully evocative rhythm starts to be detectable from within the morass, the contrast illuminating despite the overcast nature of the doom and post-metal architecture. They really play with this too, it’s quite unusual in interesting ways, even before it gets to the surprising light synth ending.

Add The Body and Godflesh to the Neurosis impression and this unholy triumvirate gets you somewhere close to Last’s works, but it would be wrong and cheapening to simply compare. It sounds like no-one but Last, and that’s where the real thrill lies in this album. Synths – or at least heavily pedal-affected guitars – help create a weird and wild terrain that moves it into experimentally bold realms.

They dive only further into this the longer the album plays – where fractured production gives an eerie, piano-backed edge with a fierce wind soundscape and what appears to be the chatter of a seagull adding to the deliberate scarring. Then there’s the throbbing pulsations of the closer, like an intruder alarm, or its warped wind instrument wailing like a lost goat kid.

They somehow manifest unusual psychedelic sensations despite the inherent harshness of their source materials. It is testament to their adventurousness, which navigates them towards lands where they stand alone. It is a fascinating listen, and the highest compliment you can give Potent Desperation is to say that it sounds like no-one else.