Review: Chrome Waves ‘Recursive: The Rain Will Cleanse Remixes’
While we wait for Chrome Waves upcoming fourth release to emerge later this year (I can’t wait), Recursive should keep us busy in the meantime. The album’s title (not a word that is particularly used in everyday parlance) is according to an Oxford Language definition, ‘characterized by recurrence or repetition’. This is certainly applicable as this isn’t an album of new material but instead a re-envisioning of the aforementioned The Rain Will Cleanse (in track order), featuring ‘remixes’ by friends and allies of Jeff Wilson/Disorder Recordings. It may in fact be worth playing both albums back-to-back so as to help enhance your Chrome Waves listening experience.
When Night Falls marked something of a departure for the band as it contrasted with previous opening tracks that had started their respective albums with raw blasts of black metal fury. In Lotus Thrones Heath Rave‘s hands, the hooks are toned down and the atmosphere significantly dialled up with some pleasant Portishead trip-hop style beats inserted along the way, this may actually appeal to older school Chrome Waves fans who may be lusting for something a little darker.
Sometimes is remixed by Wrathchild, a solo project by Dustin Boltjes; the band’s former drummer. The original may have tipped its hat to acts such as Failure and Hum but there are few signs here of those bands space rock influences present. Instead, you’re met with a harder edged industrial/dance number which you would possibly encounter at a cyber goth evening. It’s decent for what it is but nothing particularly ground breaking for me if I’m honest.
Sanford Parker (Corrections House/Mirrors For Psychic Warfare), the well regarded producer/composer handles Tired and renders the track virtually unrecognizable. Sanford forgoes the dreamy shoegaze vibes of the original, instead imbuing it with a deliciously dark experimental ambient flourish ala Lustmord.
genuine creativity, passion, and originality…
David Brenner (Gridfailure) reworks A Future and adds a couple of extra minutes onto what was already a fairly epic piece, thereby increasing the running time to a mammoth eleven minutes and eight seconds. All the Gridfailure trademarks are present, field recordings, creepy atmospherics and that all-encompassing sense of dread and unease that have become an important feature of Brenner‘s work.
Jeff Wilson makes an appearance with Deeper Graves‘ reworking of Wind Blown. Seeing as it was one of the startlingly more melodic tracks on the album, it makes perfect sense for Deeper Graves to be covering it. The 80s new wave/post-punk approach, as well as the heavily layered synths suits me down to the ground as a fan of those genres and sounds.
My original analysis of Aspiring Death that it ‘finishes the album with a gorgeous mash of psychedelic ambience and atmospherics that encapsulates the best elements of post-rock’ still applies and Fade Kainer‘s (Batillus/Inswarm/Theologian/Tombs) interpretation under the Statiqbloom moniker also reminds me of Nine Inch Nails at their more thoughtful as well as featuring some classy Roddy Bottum (Faith No More) style keyboard playing.
Jeff Wilson stated he ‘wanted to take things back a bit to the 1990s, when your band’s songs were more important than your Spotify plays…’ and that ‘every artist on this album has played an important part in the history of this band’. In this respect, he’s succeeded and unlike the 90s where you would be met with some of the laziest, uninspired, and pitiful excuses for remixes (on singles usually), here by contrast you’re met with genuine creativity, passion, and originality. Which at the end of the day is all you can really ask for, isn’t it?
Label: Disorder Recordings
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills
