This album was released on Halloween free of charge and is still available from the band’s Bandcamp page at that price. Since I first came across the work of David Brenner some years ago, I have consistently been impressed with both the quality and quantity of output, and for anyone who likes this form of “music” it really is the gift that keeps on giving. His approach to sound is that of krautrock being pushed to the extremes of post-apocalyptic angst where white noise and industrial sounds combine to create a soundscape which is eerie, bleak and unsettling. Designed for headphones, this takes the listener away from the comforting world they live in, and instead transports them into something black and white, and desolate. When an electric guitar makes an entrance with gentle chords it is almost frightening as there is a glimpse of colour and tone which soon gets swept away by what is happening all around.
The reason for the title is that unlike many of his albums, where it is just Brenner, this came together from a series of improvisational live jams with several people performing together and reacting to what each other was doing, hence “Henchmen”. These include Benjamin Levitt (Megalophobe, Gridfailure-live), Pete Tsakiris, Richard Muller (The Third Kind, Vise Massacre, Gridfailure-live), BJ Allen (Full Scale Riot), Lane Oliver (Feel Happiness), Steve Truglio (Jean-Luc Ponty Band, King Dead) and Joe D’acci. But these guys have all been fully immersed in the nuclear wasteland which is Gridfailure and this sits nicely within the canon. There is no way that anyone could ever describe Brenner’s work as comforting, but there certainly is something incredibly compelling about it, and while this will certainly not be to most people’s tastes, I get a great deal from playing it. This really is music which is challenging the very definition of the word.
Rating: 8/10
—-
Track list:
1. Fluid Explosive Tectonics
2. Get To The Door
3. Tie Off The Bleeders
4. Stalking Through The Ceiling
5. When All Clocks Stopped
6. Smolderhead
7. Badlands Inversion
8. Subduction Becoming
9. Buttercup/Greased Rat
10. Event Horizon Meditations
11. Cadaver Angels
—-
