Jarboe / Justin K Broadrick - J2

When two reputable underground artists such as Justin K. Broadrick (from Godflesh, Jesu, Techno Animal, Final, Curse Of The Golden Vampire, etc.) and Jarboe (from Swans, World Of Skin, all her solo material, and collaborations with Neurosis and many others) get together and pump out some jams, it’s difficult to ignore their track records, so I won’t even try. The jams in question exhibit wonderful traces of J & Js respective pasts, particularly Jarboe’s knack for dark electronica and Broadrick’s Godflesh-reminiscent industrial-doom metal. J2’s opener, Decay, juxtaposes Jarboe’s ghostly vocal lines with ridiculously heavy bass distortion. While the shoegaze-driven Tribal Limbo is a particular highlight, the album occasionally falls into dead-end crossovers of each artist’s less compatible influences, but this is to be expected when two masterminds collide. [Jorge Marticorena]