GIGAN – Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus
November 9, 2024, a week ago
(Willowtip)
Think I got that album title right, good god, Chicago's Gigan coming back difficult after seven years of no full-lengths, not that we'd expect anything different from these long-time labyrinth dwellers.
I love the slow-burn drawl of opener (deep breath) “Trans-Dimensional Crossing Of The Alta-Tenuis” before it takes an abrupt, no-fucks-given left turn into blasting technical deathgrind, Gigan back and going hard, even harder as the song gets to around the 2/3 mark, where things turn into a complete wall of noise, and I'm here for it. Also here for the space-age skronk-death of “Ultra-Violet Shummer And Permeating Infra-sound” and the noisy DM car-crash-with-Hellwitch-on-stereo of “Square Wave Submission” and man I missed Gigan! A 10-minute centrepiece song with a bunch of noise and alien robot spoken word? Bring it on!
Heavier than tar sludge closer called “Ominous Silhouettes Cast Across Gulfs Of Time” that disintegrates into weirdo space noise before blasting back into tech-grind? Of course, it's all just almost unbearably oppressive, but “almost” is the keyword there, Gigan again crafting a wholly enjoyable and satisfying tech-death journey with this record.
Although it's been a while since I've heard any of the older ones, I'd be hard pressed to not say this is their best—and weirdest—yet.
