Chris Connelly - The Episodes

Like Chris Connelly's own devolution from his blow-torch days with the likes of Ministry and Revolting Cocks, The Episodes is a laborious passage into a bleak and barren soundscape that circles precariously around a fused nihilistic dissonance of music and narrative, then vortexes into some perceived psychosis. Resonant steel-stringed momentum ploughs through a lo-fi assembly of vibraphone, organ and monotonous rack-tom marches while Connelly's vocals - oft compared to David Bowie - rise and fall with resigned desolation through the lengthy, chaotic tracks. The seven songs weigh in at just under an hour of ostensible experimentation; rendering accessibility an issue for the uninitiated. The eloquence of the music still shines rewardingly through the dense gloom of thorny arrangements and bleak lyrics. [Jamie Borthwick]