Low - 'The Great Destroyer' (Rough Trade)
4/5
By: Toby L
Not for the first time in Low's career, we're at last promised a record that isn't afraid to rock.
Again, they've lied. Though opener 'Monkey' seethes and throbs in an unnerving, palpable thunder of frustration, lost in thick fogs of guitars and Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk's dual vocal groan, it all transpires that this is instead Low in exelsis - full-on depression mode, unafraid to pull the plug from the wall and slip into the great eternal unconsciousness.
'The Great Destroyer' sees the threesome in a far more combative, primal role, stripping down nutrients of their unique, three-person church-punk, before mashing and blending and dirtying it up until it becomes a bleeding mess, with never-mixed results. That Low could pen a song - or an album, for that matter - which falls below expectations is an implausible scenario. But they are capable of scaring us, though - the filthy, sludge guitar of 'Step', wearying upset of 'Cut The Strings' and distortion-percussive rolls of 'Everybody's Song' are oft hardly easy listening.
But they manage to console us in our darkest moments - the thudding lo-fi of 'Just Stand Back', ambient soul of 'Broadway (So Many People)', with its multiple sections and quite wondrous, uplifting six-string fuzz-solos, and drone-dream, 'Pissing'. Ne'er afraid to embrace understatement, however, the desolate, acoustic folk of 'Death Of A Salesman' heals our hurts; all a stark contrast to the final 'Walk Into The Sea' - again, signs of a brave, quietly enchanting trio not only accepting, but embracing the final curtain. It's to their greater, long-term gain, that's for sure.
Artists in this article: Low, Low vs Diamond, Lowfive, Lowgold
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