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05 May, 2008
High Dependency Unit - Metamathics
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High Dependency Unit - Metamathics
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Metamathics
High Dependency Unit
Shoot The Freak Records
Border Music
There was a time that [High Dependency Unit] were releasing vital and boundary stretching records on a yearly basis, three essential EPs and three equally mind stretching albums appearing between 1995 and 200. Metamathics comes to us after two years in the making, with the hope that time has been spent producing something extraordinary
The first song seems to validate that belief, a bludgeoning beast that combines some of the more visceral elements from [High Dependency Unit]’s earlier work with the command of tone that better signified their mid period releases. A pile driving beat combined with positively screaming guitars and the best tendon bursting vocals this side of Hellzapoppin serve to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck like days of old. It is at this stage that the lack of songs on this album (there are only six) seems to indicate a pure, distilled vision from High Dependency Unit, reminiscent of the classic Higher EP’s cohesiveness, while still being relatively varied.
Grace maybe accentuates this thought with it’s almost dreamy pop melody and sharp drumming while Tunguska (released as a single in 2006) does a reasonable job of evoking a dark storm brewing without ever really seeming to go anywhere. Brooding it is though, and compared to the rest of the album it’s a finely honed gem.
The National Grid is probably the most uninspired (and uninspiring) thing [High Dependency Unit] have ever produced, and at thirteen minutes longs is a tough listen. It slowly eases in with the sound of squealing feedback and a distant booming drum before the song ‘properly’ begins when the bass picks out a slow, plodding and horribly obvious three note descending line, seemingly ad nauseum. More sounds fill in the background and a hint of dynamics appears in the form of the bass and lone drum dropping out, only to reappear just as slow and plodding as before and saxophone (!) and acoustic guitar (double !!) see out the song by playing the exact same tediously average progression as the bass. It’s like The Stooges’ LA Blues made way less interesting and I never thought I’d say this about High Dependency Unit, but it’s just plain boring.
The album is rounded out by two more instrumentals that appear to be slightly-more-fleshed-out jams, Irma Vep sees some semblance of trying to inject life back into proceedings with a close approximation of a guitar freak out, while Wish We Were Here goes the same road as The National Grid, an obvious and plodding piano not helped by acoustic guitar and no imagination.
It has been more than ten years since [High Dependency Unit] first started recording and the journey seems finally to have taken it’s toll. Where once there was pure inspiration and innovation, now stands complacency and mediocrity with only the briefest flash to let us know their star ever burned as bright as it did only seven years ago.
By Dave Local
Posted by rob
