ATTRITION

EN

Active since 1980 and still going strong, this Attrition is not one to wear out, despite the name. Attrition is the electro/industrial and much more project of and around the Brit Martin Bowes who releases a new album on his own Two Gods label. I've lost count, but there have been quite a few. On this "The Black Maria" (the black lady/madonna or Mary was an apparition in 19th century England who came to "get" the outcasts and the abandoned), Martin Bowes is assisted by many guests who contribute vocally and instrumentally.

Female voices (Emke van Black Nail Cabaret, Elisa Day van Hetaira Decrépita and Yvette van de band Vaselyne, but also the original Attrition singer Julia who is back after 20 years) give this album a more mystical, somewhat neo-classical and devotional touch. Listening to it, I feel like I'm in an old, mysterious, abandoned and even a bit creepy monastery where the history of guilt, punishment, pain,... wanders around like a permanently present ghost.

A ghost that cannot find peace with the painful, subversive and perverse abuses and hypocrisy that took place in these sacred corridors and cells and therefore wanders endlessly and aimlessly as a scourge for the visitor or in this case listener. From neo-classical to gothic sounding soundscapes to industrial ambient and teasing electro. This "The Black Maria" has it all, and mixes it all together like the better altar wine, from dreamy and sometimes bitter to a spicy aftertaste.

However, don't expect hits or danceable crackling 'beats'. No, "The Black Maria" is, like Attrition's more recent work, mainly a captivating listening album. Discussing each song here separately is pointless, because you have to listen to this album as a whole, as entering the Attrition world and staying there until the last note of "The Black Maria" has been sung. The album is available on cassette, vinyl and CD and deserves the spotlight here at Dark Entries because you won't hear anything of it in the alternative clubs and alternative charts. The songs you hear there are often sung out or danced out after a few months, but this "The Black Maria" will have a less direct but much more timeless impact for those who want to listen. The album was also dedicated to Kerri Bowes, Martin's former wife who died in 2022 at the age of only 39.

Attrition is still doing it in 2024 with a sound that is as unique and characteristic as it is different. "The Black Maria" has certainly won my attention and knows how to keep it. I hope the same for you, because considering you are reading this review, you must undoubtedly be a seeker of added value.

Kurt INGELS
30/04/2024

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NL

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Kurt INGELS
30/04/2024

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