The Tenebrous Liar: 'Jackknifed And Slaughtered'

Grunge used once to mean an abrasive and almost turgid form of rock music, but along with that of its spiritual ancestor punk, the name has been taken in vain of late. Kurt Cobain became its biggest star because he wrote songs the same way Burroughs wrote novels, not just because Nirvana sold a lot of records.

The Tenebrous Liar go some way back toward that lo-fi grunge ethos on this record, which is both grimy and despondent without being tedious or whiny. Okay, well it is not entirely without some tedium and whining.

'Suffer You' is an opener that is fast paced and dark of timbre. It is rock music of a breed that we don’t see very much of anymore. With a clipped and rhythmic structure underlying the track, the guitars of Steve Gullick and Tony Ash are free to roam and lap against one another, and it even works. This track clicks into 'Cut Down Your Love', something coextensive and atmospheric that rides the same sinister crest and bursts into gothic rage. It is around here the album begins to break down.

Similar fare is shot through the angst of 'No Guiding Light' and 'A Different Tide', the album’s other more jumpy numbers. Elsewhere however, the dirge of a group you’ve already heard before begins to emerge. You know the kind of thing because if you have seen more than one band live then you have seen some nameless support band whacking its audience around the head with it.

'Nothing To Say' is positively appealing, writhing around a strong bass line that is mysterious and compelling, but it only makes the less successful songs more saddening. The title track follows and promptly drags the album into a more pretentious and gloomy place. There is build up here, but all without very much dramatic tension, without the necessity of post-rock proper. The result sounds like someone aspiring to intensity but without the wherewithal to create it.

This heavy atmosphere feels oppressive. The record has the quality of having been recorded in a smoky room as brown as the sleeve. Gullick’s vocal on 'No Relief' is a grinding build up; like Groundhog Day “history repeats” sings Gullick, in a menacing despair. It would be nice if we were being encouraged to re-imagine that tension instead of relive it.



Released on 25th January 2010 by TV Records.

Written by Huw Green.