In August 2019, Gridfailure performed a fully improvised set which was filmed, and this excerpt taken from it (the excerpt is more than 28 minutes long). The band that night were David Brenner (vocals, percussion, effects, samples, visuals), Benjamin Levitt (who performs in his own right as Megalophobe), (accordion, effects) and Greg Meisenberg (Oxx, Maid Myriad, A Fucking Elephant) (drums). Both Benjamin and Greg have worked with David on other Gridfailure projects in the past, such as ‘Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery II’, and share similar dystopian bleak visions. For obvious reasons this release is not as layered as the studio albums but is more like Can being taken to the extreme, where music ceases being such, and instead is morphing into a white noise cacophony. There are distinct differences between what I see as the three forms of Gridfailure which are studio (with or without guests), improv including others, and solo improv. While Benjamin is working much more in a similar vein to David, so their different elements are intertwined and often indistinguishable, Greg is the one providing cut through and defining time signatures when he plays. It is the drums which bring this more into the mainstream in some ways, while always being so far out in left field so as not to be in the same state, let alone ballpark.
It is intense, dark, horrible, and nasty, with an evil edge, yet always compelling. There are plenty of black metal bands out there who could learn from this or pack up the corpsepaint and do something different. I can only imagine what this is like in a claustrophobic venue, where there is no escape from the cacophony, no natural light and the world is a smaller and darker place. Yet another compelling release
Rating: 8/10
