KNUT - terraformer

(CD/LP, Conspiracy)

No, it is not a declinational evolution of Shellac’s Terraform-album (which by the way is greatly underrated) but finding the word Terror in there is kind of clever. Just wanted to show that Knut is a thinking man’s band inbetween all the heavy pounding, screaming, destruction, distortion and general apocalypse. The proof that from a fusion of metal and hardcore something worthwhile and benefiting might arise, which makes it the complete opposite of metalcore. There is not upfront posing but pure, uncompromising noise and heaviness. There is no merchandising business plan to fund the band and entourage, only the will to produce a wall of sound as heavy, dense and unforgiving as possible. Proving that a wall of sound slowly pushing you towards the edge is more effective than a million tiny blows in a minute. A record that gives you the feeling that there is something terribly wrong with the world, and you might be the only one to know about it. Which is why it is also different from “true” metal – or have you ever seen a solution to the world’s problems written down in fantasy novels or splatter movies? Didn’t think so.

In between the heavy pounding, that at times feels like sludge, at other times as clear cut as a sheet of metal, there are droning noise parts, some with samples, some without. After a time it doesn’t matter anymore, where one song starts and the other ends, because the vast impact on your eardrums – and I hope you are listening to this as loud as possible – will make your brains shut off in fear of overriding its system. The drones melt into one with the heavy riffs and the vast production underlines every note with a direct punch. It is agony and despair, but also stubborness and invincibility. Just think of all the other bands on Hydra Head (“Terraformer” will be released in the USA on Hydra Head) like Isis or Jesu, and Knut will be right there amongst them. If the world was a fair place, they would already be there.

The best thing about “terraformer” is the mix between ambient noise destruction and heavy pounding metal hammer. “Fallujah” is a right straight forward scream of metal about you know what, delivering the message in a short sharp shock. Before that is “Solar Flare” and the track will convince you that no matter what the pictures in National Geographic looks like and no matter how sweet the word sounds, these are dangerous phenomenons that should not be joked with. Like globalization and the networking of the richest nations to fuck over the rest of the world, which is an issue in Knut’s work. The titles of tracks like “Seattle”, “Kyoto”, “Genoa” and “Davos” pinpoint a route across the map of the earth that develops into a psychogeographic mapping of power centres and meeting places and from there into a soundtrack to the uprisings and protests against G7. Bono on the one side of the fence, and Knut on the other side. (Guess, which one I’d go for. Straight for Bono’s neck, actually, because the guy is just making up for past mistakes.)

Yes, life is terrible. Even if you manage to grow out of your teenage rebel phase, put the leather jacket back into your closet and cut off your long hair, the feeling that there is something awful going on behind closed doors or behind the walls will never leave you. I cut of my hair when Chris Cornell and Mike Patton cut off theirs. I never had a leather jacket. But I always had that feeling. Nowadays I know that we are all nothing but puppets that some people play with. We are consumers, and to spend money is our only motivation. The more money we spend, the better. Spending more money than we have available to spend is the best. I don’t know who the people are ruling the world, but I know it is not the politicians and not the rulers of nations. It is late, I have been drinking, and Knut is getting my mind revved up in all kinds of bad bad conspiracy theories (no pun intended). It is a kind of self-cleansing with a small part of self-excuse mixed in.