Texan sludgey post-metal three-piece The Grasshopper Lies Heavy's newest EP, Gun, is blessed with the best opening to any musical release I’ve heard this year. I’ll give a rendition:
Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep.
The concept of opening a music release (let alone an EP) with forty six-second tracks containing high-pitched sine tones of various lengths is considerably outlandish. While this may seem to come across as pretentious, overblown, and pointless, this modus operandi is, on the contrary, an extremely effective build-up. When reading from this perspective, in a sense, it could be compared to not getting a joke because you “had to be there”. The opening of this EP is an ingenious manipulation of the listening experience, where 40 tracks of sine tones doesn’t lose interest, but peaks it; the expectation for what comes after is exploited completely.
Further, the forty-first track, the first after the sine tones finish, is itself an extension of the buildup, containing only long, droney notes and feedback. This continues the rise in anticipation, which itself is stretched to a point where anything to give way as a release will be satisfying.
A devastating catharsis is found in the next track. In my first experience with the track, the euphoria that I felt in hearing the epic, bombastic tones of the riff-based atmospheric sludge offered up was unlike anything else I’d experienced listening to The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’s contemporaries, such as Tides. And it had less to do with what the track itself contained, but rather, the mastery by which the band built up anticipation in the tracks preceding. That said, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy brings a concise, no holds barred approach to this well-trodden genre, even in its resemblance to the likes of early Pelican and Callisto, presented as a refreshingly energetic and enveloping sound. By the end of the forty-second track, I felt physically fatigued by the onslaught provided, but in a way that resembles a sweet, sweet version of post-coital euphoria.
The course of the rest of the EP is almost irrelevant when put against these near-perfect first 10 to 15 minutes, but The Grasshopper Lies Heavy admirably keeps its form up. At no point thereafter does the intensity of the music let up, at no point does it drag or become boring. Hit after hit of unapologetically vast and heavy waves of distortion and well co-ordinated drumming make for an overall thrilling experience.
Any flaw lies simply in its inability to wrench itself from its firmly nailed down roots in a genre of music that is encountered very often (whether it be termed “post-metal”, “atmospheric sludge” or whatever else), with its sound undeniably derivative of several other bands in this genre. Through this, however, this band breathes a significant amount of life into the style, far from lethargic or hilariously overblown mis-steps of similar bands. The genius that is presented in the release’s opening is also to be commended and is the mark of a band that knows how to use a listener’s expectations to its advantage, that can easily get away with questionable content, when compiled in an appropriate fashion. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy knows their shit.
- Marcus Whale