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Terrorfakt
Teethgrinder

Metropolis Records

Posted: Friday, December 01, 2006
By: Nate Rand

Noisy, gritty, and confrontational, Terrorfakt's latest release is like getting a massage from an orbital sander. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as interesting as the above description would have the prospective listener believe. Though Teethgrinder's abrasive nature succeeds in catching the listener's attention for the first few minutes, it quickly becomes apparent that the rest of the album will simply repeat the initial shock until it becomes little more than a semi-musical geekshow consisting of distorted beats, mechanical rhythms, and the obligatory anti-social samples. A typical composition on Teethgrinder goes much like this: cue barely decipherable, grossly distorted drums; layer on static and various machine noises; bring in the spooky sample; rinse and repeat until the next track. While this may satisfy those who do not actually listen to the music they purchase, those of us who wish for a more involving aural experience will be left wishing for something with a great deal more depth.

At about the halfway mark, Terrorfakt pulls a somewhat dirty trick: they show us, for two tracks anyway, that they are capable of something else... creating silky dark soundscapes like "Empire." The listener is lead to believe that there may, in fact, be something more to this album, and not 10 minutes later, the rug is very rudely pulled out from under the hope for a little bit of diversity in favor of more of the same. Instead of bolstering the effect of the more brutal tracks on Teethgrinder, this little interlude serves only to remind us that a good half-hour of crushing boredom still awaits us. Terrorfakt goes on to grind through eight more tracks, but the impact is lost. Any excitement that may have been derived from the opening 10 minutes has now faded, and the letdown sinks in with full force: we have just been listening to the same song for an hour. If the idea of listening to a continuous loop of static and noise appeals to you, Teethgrinder may well be the album for you, but if you insist that your music must be engaging, this disc will make an excellent tea cozy.