Author & Punisher - Krüller (2022)^{Release ID: 34474}

Industrial metal always seems to be a fickle genre to get right. For a genre whose sole purpose is to sound mechanical, many artists in recent years have been unable to to get out of a habit of obliterating the listeners ears with unpleasant and overbearing percussion mixing that finds its way right to the front and drowns out whatever groove/texture/melody is being performed by the guitar, vocals or whatever other instrument.

Now this is around the time in my review where I typically namedrop Daughters' 2018 You Won't Get What You Want, but in this case, I realize that record has more than its share of overbearing percussion. So I'll instead refer to my 2021 album of the year, Frontierer's Oxidized with its unusual blending of industrial and crushing mathcore and how that percussive texture only elaborates instead of dominates. Author & Punisher have a very similar effect on Krüller, but this time the foundation is plainly doom.

And this record is superb. The slower tempos make this album foreboding in a way that is almost new to me. I do not know how Author & Punisher were able to get away with song structures and melodic motifs this sticky and with this much passion infused into them; it feels counterintuitive at times. The use of a true electronic percussion does drag some of this albums' intensity down, but it does get redeemed by some monotonous vocals that are direct from post-metal, and the aforementioned doom infused guitar lines.

Compositions are great in terms of scale. The album has a dark text and subtext, but the song "Maiden Star" sits right in the middle of the record and throws in some unusual, but very welcome major key harmonies as a quick divergence before plunging back into the abyss on "Misery". It does not feel out of place at all and in much the same way, the full on electronic interludes on "Blacksmith" and "Misery" feel very much at home, since they were prepared by what came before.

I was in the need for some hard hitting doom metal today and man did I get a ton of that here! This is wonderfully produced, performed and executed by all involved. It's a doom metal album for those looking to step outside of the comfy confines of My Dying Bride and Swallow the Sun, without diving head first into funeral doomers Esoteric or Bell Witch.

Best Songs: Drone Carrying Dread, Incinerator, Centurion, Misery, Glorybox, Krüller

Krüller is the first release I have heard from Author & Punisher and so I have no idea of the project's development arc throughout it's existence up to that point, other than what I have gleaned from other reviewers, who all seem to agree that this is an artist who is always improving. Well, Krüller certainly seems like a very polished and well put-together album for a solo industrial artist - I must admit I was dreading some kind of avant-garde noisescape that would send my head into a spin, but this is nothing of the sort. Most of the songs are far more melodic than I would have expected with the industrial effects being used to add a layer of atmosphere that is very effectively handled in the main. I personally can't hear where the drone metal element the tagging suggests is to be found as the majority of the tracks, when stripped back, contain very little drone. I would suggest the majority of the tracks have their roots in darkwave and gothic or alternative metal with the use of the industrial toolbox adding a hardness and alienation to the sound that may give the impression of a more extreme form of metal than is actually present here. Whilst this approach is by and large successful, it sometimes falls short, particularly on Blacksmith where it sounds to me like two different tracks are playing separately, a Swallow the Sun-like gothic lament and a Prodigy-inspired industrial dance track, the two not gelling together at all and just coming off like a complete mess to me and, after a couple of playthroughs, it has me reaching for the skip button at this point. Luckily Blacksmith is followed by the title track that rounds off the album and this is my favourite of those on offer, feeling like a heartfelt cry from the soul with the industrialised pounding adding to the melancholy atmosphere.

One aspect I haven't seen much around the discussion of this album is exactly how good a vocalist Tristan Shone is. I found his singing to be quite affecting at times and it's generally melancholy tone acts as a perfect counterpoint to the almost ever-present industrial pounding, serving to emphasise the humanity of his voice which, I would suggest, is the true heart of the album. The inclusion of a cover of the fantastic Glorybox by Portishead strengthens this claim, I think, and reinforces the impression of humanity's small daily triumphs in the face of an industrialised hegemony.

Generally speaking, I found this to be an interesting and surprisingly emotional album. I think there is far more to it than the obvious "gimmick" and although it is not always completely successful to my ears, I am glad it exists and I can hear why it has gained so many advocates over the past few months, even if I may not be the most ardent of them. Author & Punisher is definitely an artist whose future releases I will look out for to see how his sound develops moving forward. Love the cover art, by the way - very 1970's sci-fi.

A Lambent Tune-Up

Author & Punisher is one of those artists that seems innocuous on the surface, but if you dig even a little bit beneath the surface there's an incredible story of ingenuity and, now that Krüller has been released, artistic growth. In many ways, Tristan Shone is the face of modern Industrial as he hauls his homemade hunk of instrument around the country, personifying the raw heart of what grating, droning Industrial noise can and wants to be. Unfortunately for him the more underground Industrial Metal genre is the only thing that held him back from resonating with the masses and even me with his previous album Beastland. I knew the full story of his music and inventiveness before listening to any of his albums, and I thought that Beastland was an interesting proof of concept for Author & Punisher's unique take on the Industrial style, but it wasn't enough to grip me in any sort of meaningful way. The album was cold, bleak, raw; everything an Industrial Metal fan would want, its plodding nature left me wanting more in a way that made me mostly forget about Author & Punisher until I wistfully checked out Krüller.

Little did I know what I was in for, since this album takes Shone's previous tendencies and adds the exact elements that tailors it to my tastes perfectly. Industrial has always bounced off me due to its general lack of tact, dynamics, or variety, so I was stunned when Krüller opened with the monstrously dystopian and deeply layered “Drone Carrying Dead”. While the backing percussion is still uniquely Author & Punisher, droning guitar riffs and melodic synths accompanied by less modulated singing are an instant indication that Krüller is going to be a very different experience compared to something like Beastland. The atmosphere is less raw and machine-like but has much more depth and character to it, although that may be my Darksynth bias showing. Perturbator’s distinct, neon-soaked atmosphere can be heard all across the album and it meshes with Shone’s metallic pounding in an extremely satisfying way that gives Krüller its specific flair. “Drone Carrying Dead” intrigued me immensely because I had no idea what to expect given the new direction it took, but the transition into “Incinerator” would snap me back to more familiar Author & Punisher territory while still maintaining the style set up by the opener.

The rest of the album takes the more freeform elements of “Drone Carrying Dead” and distills them into more structured tracks that are held together by Shone’s metallic blasting as it’s brought forward in the mix. Structure is something that Krüller excels at and is what I now believe Author & Punisher was lacking in their previous releases. The addition of more guitar and synth elements allows for more structured songwriting, more variety, and both bigger and more subtle moments throughout the album, shown best by the contrast between the more blissful “Maiden Star” with the following somber and crushing “Misery”. Rather than just overwhelming the listener’s senses, Shone is tactful in how he uses his rig to create weighty grooves and accents that sound jarringly musical, especially on the strange but awesome inclusion of Portishead’s “Glorybox”. Granted it took me a while to realize it was a cover since I’m not too familiar with Portishead, but nonetheless it fits into the run of the album and showcases how flexible Author & Punisher’s style can be. While I can see the appeal of his previous cold and mechanical soundscapes, Krüller is the first time I feel like I can praise the songs themselves rather than only praise the way they’re created or the atmosphere they evoke. The intertwining layers of Darksynth drones and fleeting guitar riffs is a uniquely satisfying combination that’s used to create all sorts of different ambiences while still carrying a cohesive and prevailing image of a dismal dystopia in a dying world.

Peculiarly, Shone is able to elevate his sound through subtlety, showing that less can be much, much more in a normally overwhelming blend of genres. The heft and depth of his electronics is uncompromising, but they leave enough room for other interesting elements to shine through, like the synth lead on “Maiden Star” or the jackhammering guitar chugs and drumming on “Misery”. It emanates a sense of maturity as Shone pulls his own sounds back in order to properly accentuate the other elements that makes Krüller so unique. His vocal performance has also matured, with most of the harsh distortion that muddled up his yells gone in favor of a more balanced performance throughout. The bleaker tracks like “Incinerator” and “Blacksmith” should sound more familiar to longtime fans, but the rest of the album is fairly varied with semi-harsh to even clean vocals on “Drone Carrying Dead” and “Krüller”. Obviously, Author & Punisher’s creator is ingenious when it comes to hardware, but Krüller is a massive step towards something truly masterful compared to his previous albums. My bias towards the standard Darksynth atmosphere is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, but I think the mix of harsh, booming industrial with complimentary, droning guitar and contrasting, but still bleak sounding synth is objectively stellar. The resulting package is a complex weave of a futuristic, bleak, and bitterly thriving landscape that’s filled with rewarding details and unique soundscapes.

In niche sub-genres such as drone metal and industrial metal the ideal scenario for me is to have a go-to artist I can really rely on.  I cannot say that I listen to much of anyone else in either genre and so the assured and emotional consistency of Tristan Shone's output in Author & Punisher is a real bonus for me in a world of thousands of artists and much less time than needed to fully explore many of them.  As time has gone on I have discovered two main themes in his work.  Firstly, he gets better with every release.  The maturity he is now able to exhibit on Krüller is just so confident that it is obvious in every track on the album; his experience over each passing year and release simply makes him better.  Secondly, as time has gone by I have ceased to be astonished by just his incredible ability to make all manner of alien and horrifically atmospheric noises from whatever ungodly bit of tech he has made with his bare hands.  I am now just as astonished by the emotional tautness of his output that stirs responses in me that I had not thought possible with this type of music.

At this point in his career, Shone is untouchable in terms of not needing to rely solely on the harsh, abrasive and heavy aspects of his music to get his message across.  If there is anyone using textures better than he does on tracks like Incinerator then I damn well demand a recount!  This track in particular is a rollercoaster that goes from broody and sultry onto anger and sadness before giving way to mental torture.  Listen to this album through a couple of times and you will understand that Shone is able operate on multiple levels and can hammer home his message without the need for blunt force every time.  Centurion relies on a subtle yet ever-present urgency to press home its threat.  Maiden Star operates meanwhile in a whole separate stratosphere with dreamy melodies and blatant rock guitars as its main ingredients.

Whereas previous A&P releases lacked range, on Krüller this is not a problem that is even on the horizon.  Without having to go avant-garde or just plain old wacky, album number nine just delivers on every level.  The drone elements are stable without being excessive and the industrial elements play as influences (albeit big influences) that do not rule the roost as such yet the album is still so very industrial at its core but feels so open and varied without disrupting the sense of balance that permeates the record.  The cover of Glorybox by Portishead feels like a huge moment for the album and indeed Shone's career itself.  Taking the elements that make it such a brilliant piece of dreamy trip-hop in the first place, A&P manages to elevate this with his trademark droning, industrial intensity whilst still capturing the heartfelt message at the centre of the track.

Krüller is Tristan Shone at his best and is far and away his finest hour.  Able to command enough respect at this stage to have Tool's Justin Chancellor and Danny Carey guest on the album, Shone can use his ever-growing confidence to allow his vocals to shine more as he (consciously) removed much of the trademark distortion that layered them in the past in favour of what to me is a more personal connection.  One of the best finds of 2022 so far.