Gone Dark by Human Impact (Ipecac)

Human Impact
Gone Dark
Ipecac Recordings

Unsane’s Chris Spencer and Cop Shoot Cop’s Jim Coleman return for another round of gale force winds in the vein of noise punk that is taking style and fury headfirst.

Their opener, “Collapse,” will blow your hair back with some intense hardcore with the same intensity in a post-Unsane world. Add in Eric Cooper (Made Out of Babies, Bad Powers) and drummer Jon Syverson (Daughters) and you round out a foundation that is chaotic and unpredictable. The way the bass and drums turn into a megalith on “Hold On” is powerful.

Gone Dark is darker, grittier and imposing with its field recordings and industrial rhythmic pulse like an apocalyptic robot barreling around in massive boots. “Destroy To Rebuild” is the perfect example of this. The band embraces it with fists clenched.

As for the album, Spencer elucidates, “We were all looking to go with something rawer and more aggressive than the previous releases. There was a real desire to capture more of what the live performances were like. With this one, we had plenty of time to develop a full, cohesive album joining songs together with interstitial pieces more like a live performance would be. With Gone Dark we have arrived at a place where we fully understand who we are as a band, so it’s a bit more focused and relentless.”

This is an album that builds on the strength of seasoned musicians who know exactly how to catapult chaos into the fire and build strength on the muscle of their own creativity, even if they end up pouring gasoline on it all.