The Flying Luttenbachers - Infection and Decline
(Troubleman Unlimited)
In a sense, the Flying Luttenbachers are a band that's long been easy to unfairly disregard or ignore completely. Bandleader Weasel Walter's frequent shifts in artistic trajectory have resulted in massive changes in both lineup and sound, and Walter's uncompromising, knowledgeable views, like the Luttenbachers equally uncompromising music, usually elicits a fairly immediate, polarized, love/hate response. Walter is a musician who strives for the extreme, and who leaves little room for the relaxing comfort of atavism, safety, irony, or nonchalance, and his music shows it.
Infection and Decline, the first release from what's become known as the "brutal prog" lineup of the Luttenbachers, leaves behind the jagged, pummeling improvisation of the group's last incarnation and, instead, comes forth with an even more blistering salvo, replacing tumultuous, chaotic improv with piercingly calculated, intricate music that's just as menacing and more progressive than most of the limp-wristed dreck that's codified as prog these days. Much more indebted to Immortal, say, than the folky, fanciful ways of Gentle Giant and their brethren, Infection and Decline actually dares to add a new, mutilated stump to the body of rock language by assimilating one of the last frontiers in the avant garde: death and black metal. The album's atmosphere is, in part, most easily traceable to French prog legends Magma (bassists Alex Perkolup and Jonathan Hischke are credited with "earth" and "air" bass duties and the album's closing track is a full-length version of Magma's classic "De Futura"), but there's little actual music here that will sound like anything Christian Vander ever composed. In the loose story that runs behind Luttenbachers releases, this album represents the collapse of the robot civilization that's taken over the Earth, and Infection and Decline's twisted, raw, complexity illustrates that concept well.
The album's five original compositions (three by Walter, one by Perkolup, and another penned by former member Chuck Falzone) are shuddering masses of Walter's machine gun percussion, heavy on double bass and tight blast beats, the dirty, organic rumblings of Perkolup's fretless bass, almost dripping with decomposed earth, and Hischke's lighter basswork, higher pitches strained through science fiction effects and robotic distortion. The songs stop and start on a dime, utilizing thematic repetition only to dismantle the music's framework just as the subconscious begins to become fully acclimated to it. Negative space plays a major role in the compositions, as does the music's self-mutilating tendency to quickly mangle anything that might sound remotely like sleek wankery. Tempo changes, unexpected bursts of perpendicular firepower, and intense maelstroms of noise fuel Infection and Decline and serve as a pragmatic demonstration of the band's quick reflexes and agility.
If Infection and Decline has any weakness, it's the sound of the album. Live and on their 2001 demos, the Luttenbachers' new music exudes a messy ruggedness that is stripped away on the studio recording. The added effects and decreased distortion, though they're truer to the band's aims, seem to add a level of restraint to the band's sound, and lessen the impact of its inherent (to use a technical term) "umph." Any minor problems with the production or recording, however, can't come close to obscuring the fact that Infection and Decline is an excellent album, and that the album makes a strong case for the current phase of The Flying Luttenbachers being their best yet.
|
