:: Genghis Tron - Board Up The House

Genghis Tron

The alchemy of experimental electronic music with the brutality of grindcore metal is nothing new these days. There have been quite a few acts who have attempted to blend the two completely separate genres in the past, but precious few have managed to completely make the two genres compliment one another. That was until now, as Philadelphia-based avant-garde act Genghis Tron have finally brought the eclectic styles together in a very unique manner with their sophomore effort ‘Board Up The House’. Although having achieved some modest success with their previous EPs and their sole full-length effort (2006’s ‘Dead Mountain Mouth’), it’s only now with their Relapse Records debut that Genghis Tron have finally found the right balance between experimentation and melody, and keyboards and a harder edged driving metal sound.

The trio open up their latest offering with the title track ‘Board Up The House’, which initially lulls you into a false sense of security with its hypnotic and repetitive keyboard loops, before pummelling the listener with the introduction of piercing guitars. The absence of a real drummer doesn’t seem to be much of a loss with the programmed efforts still providing a heavy backdrop, while the song writing overall seems to be a little more structured and thought out than anything heard on the band’s previous efforts. A tribalist feel can be heard in the drums that introduce the follow up track ‘Endless Teeth’, which only add to the savagery of the guitar riffs and the cinematic keyboards in the foreground, while ‘Things Don’t Look Good’ builds upon the chaotic template of the former track, but with some added melodic passages to break up the periodic assault.

The instrumental ‘Recursion’ offers up a slight reprieve before it gently drifts into the dramatic and epic sounding ‘I Won’t Come Back Alive’, while ‘City On A Hill’, ‘Colony Collapse’ and ‘The Feast’ represent the heaviest tracks on the album. Finishing up the album is the expansive ‘Relief’, where the band once again mesmerises with a droning hypnotic riff structure that is more than fitting as the album’s grand finale.

Genghis Tron is not a band that seems willing to be placed in any one genre bracket. But if keyboard orientated progressive/experimental music with a metallic bent sounds like your thing, then ‘Board Up The House’ comes high recommended.