DEVOLUTION

"Most listeners don't even know that Verhagens work and thus Shinjuku Thief's work are primarily compositions for dance or theater productions. Devolution is no exception, but man would I ever like to see the stage show this creepy, non-rhythmic nightmare was made for. I can't even imagine. Sudden bursts of volume and horror-movie atmosphere puncuate the metallic throbs and escaping-oxygen ambience. I look in the liner notes and see credit given to someone for "Harness Construction", so someone was flying around a stage somewhere and that would make sense. This may be my favorite Verhagen dance composition yet. It has a sort of relentless brutality and unapologetic rage, with many periods taking that feeling quite literally and becoming noise on the scale of Merzbow. The disc closes out with three breathtaking tracks, all different and the last sounding like nothing less than a brief, beautiful elegy for the now deceased Dorobo."