THROBBING GRISTLE PART TWO: THE ENDLESS NOT ALBUM MUTE, EMI RELEASE: APRIL 4, 2007 REVIEW: MAY 3, 2007

The result of the reconvening of Throbbing Gristle is a mixed bag, perhaps not surprising when considering that the material was prepared with the members spread out across the globe. It was quite clear from the beginning that a group like Throbbing Gristle would not choose the most obvious route, as in going back to their roots. So what have we gotten instead?

"Part Two" is largely steered along by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge's vocals, sometimes chanting, otherwise crooning, but always with a sense of urgency and intensity familiar from his earlier vocal work with, for instance, Thee Majesty. From there he/she also seems to have brought along the spiritual themes that take precedence over any provocation here.

Indeed the spirituality is put in the foreground, while the familiar industrial arsenal of scrap metal beats, shrill whistles and other disturbing noises are used in a very delicate way, sometimes even giving way to a bleak jazz atmosphere. This darkly tinted ambience is never confrontational, though charged with uncertainty. I imagine that age, as well as tragic events such as the death of Jhonn Balance left the group less inclined to pour bile on things or satirize in quite the way they used to. The mood is more contemplative than anything else, and sometimes, as with the drones and piano on "After the Fall", quite beautiful.

Although "Part Two" is a compromise in many ways, I enjoyed receiving this postcard from a well travelled fellowship in modern music. In a way, their musical and ideological development reflects my own.

MATTIAS HUSS