Due to personnel changes, the scene supergroup trio Sightless Pit for Lockstep Bloodwar two years following the 2020 debut Grave of a Dog Inevitably reinvented as a Alex Reed-revolving-door duo, so to speak – which now opens up the harsh noise terror with the passage into the horror cabinet of hip hop.
Kristin Hayter who is currently her alter ego Unknown language is no longer part of the band structure. What, if you correctly interpret any hints in the social media messages, happened to half of the remaining Sightless Pit duo (namely with Full of Hell– Howler Cube Dylan Walker) and to the other (with Lee Buford from The Body) when somewhat less amical separation happened.
An ambivalent circumstance, which the remaining tandem can and only wants to compensate for with the radical opening of the influences on their sound – Lockstep Bloodwar has therefore come up with an unorthodox list of features that inspires similar incredulous amazement as that of Shook evokes and practically unheard leaves no doubt regarding the limits for Sightless Pit have postponed.
Only the title track (a club delirium in the ambient space dystopia hisses and squeaks pulsating through the stroboscopic apocalypse and treats itself to an almost conciliatory conclusion, which fortunately and finally takes its time – most of the songs end too abruptly) as well as Morning of a Thousand Lights (who stomps martially and hisses in agony, grimly and subcutaneously snips his gag reflex in the traditional catacombs of the group) concentrate purely on their core competencies without Alex Reed entry, the remaining spectrum varies the duo’s anti-comfort zone sometimes more explicitly, sometimes more subversively.
Resin on a Knife mutates regarding the MO of Sightless Pit rather enigmatic with a booming downbeat in the trance of a spherical shimmer, as if Team Sleep ethereal to the dreamy breathy melody of Midwife follow, even if little by little Dylan’s nasty trademark screaming mixes with the trip-hoppy hallucinogenic beat and the opener crackles more and more as a virus-eaten distortion. Similarly assimilating at the other end, the hypnotically forgiving seductive Futilities comes full circle in which Foie gras mystified as a transcendent beguiling mythology siren.
In between, however, the amalgam of harsh noise, power electronics and post/death industrial is just as receptive to abstractly deformed hip hop as one would hardly have thought possible with such a natural and organic appeal.
Calcified Glass is a trap-wriggling contemporary R&B nightmare from the esoteric abysses of James Blake, who is quietly eaten away poisonously from the background as if atonal free jazz were spreading brain rage – unfortunately the otherwise spectacular, hard-hitting features come from drummer Yoshimio (Boredoms) and especially Gangsta Boo (RIP!) too short. Flower to Tomb pushes the screeching hysteria away otay:onii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel) with somnambulistic ritualism grandiose for Silent Hill-Soul between Massive Attack and Algierswhile Low Orbit grooving into the chantently produced Schnauf-working and the diabolically warped raps of Frukwan (Gravediggaz, Stesasonic) and FoH-Buddy Spencer Hazard (Industrial Hazard) like an oddly funny one Oompa Loompa-bringing hatred to post-industrial frenzy, meanwhile False Epiphany breathes deeply as a spherical, ethereal ambient with a restrained hi-hat and claire rousay as a puking standard, before Shiv Crownovhornz cheers in the hysterical sedative, and jogs through the arena as if Run the Jewels been doused with acid.
In a diffuse gray area in which Lockstep Bloodwar operates in a disturbing and lulling manner at the same time, but the friction created between the house rules and the invited guests is only used to a limited extent. Walker and Buford always adapt their trademark sound (if you can call it that due to a certain unrecognizability of the ingredients) far enough to accommodate the features as a perceived compromise, but apart from the aesthetics of the songwriting, they don’t go all in and irritate them Dälek‘schen, HEALTH-affine mood does not go through the possible extremes as uncompromisingly as it would have been possible without a safety net and a safety net.
So don’t get me wrong: Lockstep Bloodwar is a fantastic paradigm shift and a great album – but also one that might easily have been an outstanding one with more ruthlessness and a more holistic arc of suspense.
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