gnod: mirror

Just as dramatically as their restless disposition morphed their sound to a binary-driven direction for their last work, now Gnod strip their electronic setup to a viscous attack, as redolent of the primal punishment of early Swans, as the angularity of prime Public Image Ltd, yet shot through with a mercurial power and fiery intensity that could come from no-one else. The opening title-cut of Mirror seethes with lithe energy and dubbed-out vitality, whilst elsewhere the eighteen-minute closing track "Sodom & Gomorrah" may be the most dystopian piece of music the band have yet created; a harrowing yet fiercely compelling colossus of bleak abjection. "The tracks were pretty much written on the road in May 2015" elaborates Gnod's Paddy Shine. Reflecting and refracting the uncertainty of a darkening era, Mirror is a work of bold reinvention and raw renewal, sculpting chaos and discord into a formidable statement of intent. Only one thing is certain - wherever Gnod choose to go next, their ire and inspiration blaze as brightly as ever.