 Fiesel
"The Ruins of This Life" CD
Losing
Blueprint
Genres: indie rock, experimental rock, absolute
chaos
Losing Blueprint / Andrew Wagner
12A Day St.
Waltham, MA 02453
Feb 17 - 23 2003 |
2002
saw the release of many well-publicized albums by many well-known
bands. With all the Flaming Lips robots, all the Interpol
art-rockers, and all the Wilco cowboys, it was easy to ignore what
was coming out on the smaller labels. And it's for this reason
that such a terrific album as Fiesel's full-length debut, The
Ruins of This Life, goes unnoticed.
But, fortunately, I had been anxiously awaiting this release for
ages. Why? Because I was one of the noble few who had had the
pleasure of experiencing Fiesel's turbulent debut ep, a release
so excruciatingly powerful that I found it hard not to break into
severely spasmodic dancing every time I heard it.
But when I first heard The Ruins of This Life, I was a little
pissed off. Fiesel had changed - instead of crafting
those short, mind-blowingly angular rock nuggets that I had fallen in
love with, they had produced a full album out of seven, much more lengthy
tunes. I had been betrayed! All I had looked forward to
for the past year was dashed to pieces! But then, I
listened. I listened to the power of "Better Days Will
Come," which starts off quietly, and then suddenly rockets into
an explosive, energetic rock song. I listened to the epileptic
drums and abused, out-of-control guitar strings of "Coin
Return" being smashed to pieces in absolute chaos. I
listened. I listened and my initial complaints slowly died out.
By the time the cluttering feedback on "Black as Midnight on a
Moonless Night / Cold Hardwood Floor" slowly faded away, allowing
a brief little calm bit to surface amidst the chaos, I was in complete
musical ecstasy. Nothing really mattered anymore, the music was
all that was relevant at that point in time.
And it's moments like these that make The Ruins of This Life
so amazing. The intense, explosive chaos that Fiesel
creates is absolutely terrific. On a track like "Crime of
the Century," they turn thirteen minutes into a jerky,
spasmodically changing jolt of sound and energy. The drums
aren't satisfied to find one specific beat, instead they are pounded
in a seemingly uncontrolled - yet solidly rhythmic - manner. The
guitars, on the other hand, build tension by short, repeated
fragments, only to be blown away in a haze of feedback and angularity
- chords are turned upside, flipside, rightside, leftside, and
underside, and frantic waves of axe noise are draped over the listener
relentlessly. Your head is pummeled without remorse - by the end
of it all, you're left in such a state that you can no longer think
straight. And though, at times, the band does cool things down a
bit, they manage to end the piece in messy, feedback-drenched climax,
only to shoot right into "Choke," a one minute throwback to
the style the exhibited on their ep. The last thing we hear on
the album is all the band members letting out a mutual
"UGH!" Classy.
Fiesel are one of my favourite new rock outfits to surface
in a long time. Making their way through the most impossible
time measures, handling absolute guitar chaos as if it was nothing,
while still remaining a zest for melody and tunefulness, these
musicians perfectly embody what it means to be rock. Call it
experimental, call it math rock, call if what ever the fuck you'd like
- Fiesel are one of the freshest bands around today, and The
Ruins of This Life is an album I sincerely suggest you buy.
93%
Matt Shimmer [Vitals:
7 songs, distributed by the
label, released 2002] |
