Not that I am just discovering this fact, but honestly, I'm an odd guy... I just am! My record collection best illustrates this point. I like what I like. Admittedly, for the most part I have steered clear of what I surmise is referred to as "Black/Death" -the subgenre. It has just always seemed as if the calling card of this subset is, like, noise for the sake of noise -a cacophonous expression with very little rhyme or reason. Nine times out of ten, I am not wrong in my belief that Black Death is nothing more than aural vomit, and believe me, players of the style are fine with that metaphor. Typically, "aural vomit" is exactly what they are going for. In fact, a certain someone whom I have conversed with, a player in the "Black/Death" scene openly admitted to me that if your recording is in anyway accessible, then you have failed in recording a proper release within genre standards. Stupid! On Human Failure's 10" EP titled Crown On The Head Of A King Of Mud, however, I discovered a sonic invasion of my senses that synergized with my psyche instead of one that would further stoke my aversion for this type of musical expression.
Human Failure is the one-man project of Oakland, California citizen Daniel Cornejo. I discovered Cornejo's work last weekend while having my Saturday morning cup of joe as I browsed my usual music news sites (Decibel, MRR, Post Punk Online). An ad for Crown On The Head Of A King Of Mud was embedded right under the Decibel site's header. The cover art didn't really "shepherd's crook" me in, as images in that vein are a dime a dozen when you've been following the scene for close to four decades now. Not even the description of the sound therein particularly moved me, listing Human Failure as 'Black-Death-Noise-Punk'. Actually, it was the band name and more precisely the album title what did it for me. As if the obvious band name (that has miraculously not been usurped till now) wasn't great enough, the album's title -Bravo! It is so evocative! Let that be a lesson for all you whipper-snappers out there dropping records, TITLE IS EVERYTHING!!! I could not have given a single fuck about this band or its form of expression had it not been for the title that sucked me in.
Crown On The Head Of A King Of Mud is out (as of May 7th) courtesy of SENTIENT RUIN LABORATORIES on 10" vinyl format, cassette or a 5 song digital album -all available at the Caligari link. I don't know if the fact that I am endorsing this release is high praise or a black eye to the integrity of it. On the one hand, the fact that it speaks to me can be a testament to Human Failure's musical ability to transcend a captive audience and appeal to a novice, an outsider. Still, the flipside to that notion is that this very same transcendent quality is not transcendence but rather pedestrian accessibility which really equals to nothing more than 'generic' and 'illegitimate' in a purist's eyes.
At any rate, this thing is fucking gnarly! I love the 2-man-or-less bands of today -a redeeming advent to have flourished in the twilight of the millennial generation. It took me a while to warm up to the concept of one man bands, but once I did they became an obsession. Cornejo is a sick, genius -fucked up butcher! Initiator "Poison Ideals" is unsettling, completely disorienting for the first thirty seconds until a D-Beat drop allows you to gain some footing. If you survive to track two, the title track, then you're in for a ride -here is where things get interesting That riff is worthy of one thousand grimaces, it's doom-like stomp makes ruin of all within its sonic miasma. The doom-riff goes into a blast and back again, finally devolving into a finale belabored by sonic savagery. "Your Hope Is A Noose" is another insanely good track. This one is more straight forward, an onslaught from beginning to end, punctuated by a feedback-fest propping up a blast riff that throws you into the chasm before the record's closer, "All Fall" throws gravel and dirt over you. Curtains.
I highly recommend this if you already have a proclivity for shit like Archgoat, Caveman Cult, Mehkago N.T., and Vassafor to name a few that I know and enjoy. If you are not familiar with these bands, still give this a check, it is fuckin ill-matic. It is like getting to be a spectator within a waking nightmare for fifteen minutes. Perfect for dismemberments, nuclear annihilation, weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.
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