Genghis Tron - "Board Up the House"

Genghis Tron - City on a Hill (Relapse 2008)

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House / Relapse

In many conversations I've had with people since the turn of the year, opinion seems to be unanimous that 2008 has not had much to match the blockbuster first quarter we saw in 2007, when it was difficult to keep up with the number of good records coming out. '08 has woozily stumbled out of the blocks with a few hits, a few misses, but by and large has remained quiet. Until now, that is. Genghis Tron has blown open the gates with the most vibrant, cleverly vicious record in recent memory. And without a doubt since the turn of the year.

Board Up the House feels like a logical progression both from their last full-length, 2006's impossibly brutal Dead Mountain Mouth, and last year's Triple Black Diamond stopgap EP. The dynamic this Philadelphia trio works with shows respect to their own history: As Dead Mountain Mouth built on their debut Cloak of Love EP, so thusly does Board Up the House pick up where Triple Black Diamond left off in its forward thinking, its striving to mine new sonic territory, then fill those mines with mines and watch the whole thing explode. They are heavier, they are lighter, they are as reliable as they've ever been.

They are also singing, which is something that the band avoided for a considerable amount of time. As one of the most extreme bands anywhere, their hard-fought reputation for ear-melting was won largely through Mookie Singerman's flashes of vocal thrashing. In the latest incarnation of the band, "I Won't Come Back Alive" features harmonies that in the past might've been cause for a synth solo or a long ambient passage. Such is not the case here. Godcity Recording Studio guru and Converge guy Kurt Ballou has brought out melodic elements in the band that weren't there before. He has also brought out instrumentals, none of which act as filler but more as buffer zones between the mayhem. In the past, a song like "The Whips" or the deranged bagpipes of "The Feats" would've functioned as dénouements for a song following its loud middle bit. Here there appears to be a willingness to let it function on its own as a sonic experiment, an aural detour, electronic shrapnel covering guitar toxicity.

Maybe it wasn't just him, though. Maybe the band had found it on their own. The only way we know for sure what happened to the 'Tron is through the updated rendering of "Colony Collapse," which appeared in an early working version, home-recorded, on Triple Black Diamond. Tucked away near the back of this album too, "Colony Collapse" seems more muscular and capable in re-recorded form. Everything feels heavier, flatly. The guitar parts grind with a previously unknown force, grate with the sheer power of a larger band (or a more experienced one, such as tourmates The Dillinger Escape Plan). To think these sounds are coming from just three guys and a drum machine is at times impossible to believe.

The title-track and "City on a Hill" are the two most fully realized songs from this record. "City on a Hill" was one of the earliest posted tracks on the band's MySpace page, and with good reason: The synthesizer is immediately recognizable, the melody is difficult to forget, and the hardest guitar parts are all there. The same goes for the title-track. Several other songs match them, but none excel. The beauty and the brutality, the same descriptions, already this review has worn itself out. But listening to an album of this intensity and trying to write about what you're hearing is so draining, utterly draining.

So of 2008 being a quiet year, I will simply say this: As of today, there will no longer be a reason to agree. Genghis Tron are one of metal's best bets for finding new forests to torch, burning new villages, taking new names and kicking new asses. With Board Up the House, the sonic adventure continues in its most complete form yet. Do not miss out on this album.