REVIEW: Gigantic Brain – World
Welcome to another one of my very rare anticipated grind releases.
Gigantic Brain‘s debut album The Invasion Discography actually represented my first encounter with the cyber-grind genre back in 2004. I would’ve been around 17 at the time, and having just discovered some of the more whacky and extreme bands of metal I absolutely loved it. However, for whatever silly reason I never actually purchased the album (despite working for Grindhead Records who actually had it in stock). I have always kicked myself over not picking up that twisted album – however rumour has it that a re-release (from Mainstay Recordings, Deepsend Records or Razorback Records… I forget which) might be in the works.
It has been five long years since we last heard anything from Gigantic Brain. If you listen to music as twisted, bizarre and experimental as Gigantic Brain - or have ever played in a similar project – you might realise that five years is a very long time in music. Music preferences can (and should) shift dramatically over five years, as should the mindset of the creator. I’ve never understood how in the hell can one band rehash the same album over the course of a long career (Slayer?). Honestly that just sounds like hell to me.
Now returning from the unspeakable horror that is Horhua-Lmory Undecimus XI, Gigantic Brain has summoned forth World; 18 tracks of ambient cyber-grind. Actually even the phrase ‘ambient cyber-grind’ is quite misleading as this is a fairly significant departure from Gigantic Brain‘s previous sound. Instead of a relentless overload of mind-fucking FX-drenched hyper-grind, World’s focus instead seems to be on dramatic, eerie ambient passages that seem at least in small part a nod to Devin Townsend‘s ambient work. It’s also no coincidence that Explosions In The Sky are listed as one of the few influences on the Gigantic Brain MySpace page.
The fair majority of this album actually consists of sparse synth soundscapes and atmospheric keyboard pieces interspersed with the occasional burst of break-neck otherwordly violence. And I like it. I really fucking like it. The ambient passages are pulled off brilliantly; no song song sounds out of place, drawn out or pointless – a trap which a lot of ambient music falls into.
In Teufel’s review over at Teufel’s Tomb he said that World is the ‘the perfect album to use as a soundtrack for an alien invasion flick’ and he couldn’t be more right. Each song builds some element of drama or tension and evokes a wide range of emotions; some sound foreboding, tense and dripping with fear, while other songs are filled with calm hope and relief. The whole album fits together perfectly. When there are bursts of hyper-violence, they are both brief and crushingly intense with maximum impact.
This is a large departure from Gigantic Brain‘s Invasion Discography, and I’m sure a lot of close-minded metal heads will be disappointed with World - however I’m quite glad that I didn’t sit through 5 listens of a disposable cyber-grind album this morning. I fucking hate Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Be sure to check this release out if you’re not a bland metal caricature with a penchant for (and only for) generic extreme metal.
Look out for the release of World on Mainstay Recordings - their website is currently down for a redesign. News has it the man behind Gigantic Brain, John Brown is already working on new Gigantic Brain material, as well as a grind collaboration project with guitarist Rene Perez of Flash Parade entitled Time Waits For No Man. I’m looking forward to both projects.
Obey the brain – and be sure to check out Teufel’s review of World. My money has it he wasn’t quite as hungover as I was while writing his review.
http://www.myspace.com/giganticbrain
6 Responses to “REVIEW: Gigantic Brain – World”
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Some guy
Said this on April 16th, 2009 at 7:17pm:Have you heard the new Agor Nose album? It’s not the machine gun festival of previous albums… which is odd. Hold me?
Dysenteric
Said this on April 16th, 2009 at 8:57pm:I’m listening to World now and I already can’t wait for new Gigantic Brain material. The stuff on their (his) MySpace is killer. I want a ‘Betelgeuse’ .mp3 to listen to on the go.
That new ANb album surprised me in that it wasn’t constant blasting. It still sucks though.
All in all, I can’t wait for World to be released. I want to own it legit.
One last thing: why does that picture show Australia normally, and brain everywhere else?
Some guy
Said this on April 17th, 2009 at 6:31pm:Because we lack a brain.
Lachlan from Kill A Celebrity
Said this on April 21st, 2009 at 10:42am:The brains took pity on us.
I’m keen to hear this new EP too… and get this damn album.
Jyb
Said this on May 5th, 2009 at 2:24am:Well, i’m going to sound like a prick but whatever.
I liked the new Anb and dislike the new GB.
My point is that the full-grind-gigantic-brain was effective because it was drummachine grindcore with the B movie alien concept pushed to its max. It was violent, sometimes gloomy, but always “fun”.
But now, it’s trying to be some kind of ambient/Jesu/Devin Townsend/serious/emotional stuff, still with that B movie quality.
I’m not against the fact that artists and bands evolve in their sound, I also think that’s really necessary. Rehashing is shit.
The thing is that it’s not the style change that bothers me the most, it’s the type of sounds, the effects, the production etc.
To sum it up, there’s a big gap between the Intention and the Execution. If both had matched, if the ambient was really freaky and the “post” parts less clichés, i would have liked it more. But it sounds Ed Wood-esque. Heck, i found track #12 of the Invasion Discography to be more effective in that stuff.
In the other hand, i found that Anb had been more able to deal with the drummachine frenzy cliché. They had their unique sound, sometimes straightblasting, sometimes with intricate drumpatterns (for a drummachine), sometimes pharmaco-psychedelic, sometimes with more slower or classical stuff (the last album or that split with Appartement 213, very surprising at the beginning, but really interesting).
I have to admit that i did not gave the new GB that much listens, so maybe my opinion will change. I’m just trying to add antoher point of view to the discussion (and saying that NO, Anb do not suck).
I hope you didn’t have too much trouble reading me (we french not is goods with foreigns speakage).
Lachlan from Kill A Celebrity
Said this on May 5th, 2009 at 10:37am:You don’t sound like a prick; you’re entitled to your opinion. And it is fairly easy to read your post.
I didn’t really have any expectations for Gigantic Brain, so I’m not that concerned that they didn’t focus more on their cheesey 80′s sci-fi gloomy sound. The time between the two albums is 5 years; that is a very, very long time. It seems like John just did whatever the hell he felt like; but I would agree that this doesnt really seem to be a totally coherent extension of the original Gigantic Brain.
There has been some Nosebleed stuff I remember liking… it might have been their split with Kill the Client. For the mostpart though I don’t like their horrible drum sound or yelling vocals at all. They just seems like throwaway noise-grind songs with crappy riffs that Scott Hull pulled out of his ass; or maybe that’s just me.