THD THE EVOLUTION OF OUR DECAY ALBUM 23DB RELEASE: APRIL 28, 2009 REVIEW: APRIL 6, 2009

It was always a nagging question why this outfit dropped off a decade ago. The question has now been answered. Picking right up from where 1999's "Under a Statik Sky" (Pendragon) left off, US electronic provocateurs Total Harmonic Distortion bring the grit, the grease and yes indeed, the funk! THD just make so many other bands pointless, they're a slap in the face, cold water at 5am. Yes, you can dance to some of it but not in a fashion or place you've been before.

I have not heard anything this out of left field and deliciously experimentalist in the field of electronic music since Click Click's 1997 masterpiece, "Shadowblack" (Offbeat). The beats are thick, the atmospheres a slice of Gibson's heady brew of toxicity and torrential population explosion. It's a continual reminder, this album, of what a range THD possess. "The Evolution of Our Decay" has very little breathing space. Every last millisecond of sound has been crammed to it's limit. Not many others know how to do this but this is no ordinary pair.

These two have written an album which makes sense to themselves, first and foremost. Anything we fans have to add is strictly topical. The ten years they've spent away from the public eye has only increased their viability. This is a very necessary record, one which no preening git in a gasmask could hope to aspire to. Depth, complexity, nuance, texure, songs which do not follow any predictable pattern. I'd hazard to say it's their best but if they stick around, we have not heard anything yet.

PETER MARKS