Review by Xephyr for Author & Punisher - Krüller (2022)

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.