Album Reviews
If you put Unsane’s Chris Spencer, Cop Shoot Cop’s Jim Coleman, Made Out Of Babies’ Eric Cooper, and Daughters’ Jon Syverson together, you know you will not be getting a pop album in return. That wasn’t the case on Human Impact’s self-titled debut album, and it still rings true on ‘Gone Dark’. Another thing that will be ringing is your ears. This album is loud!
Even though Spencer and Coleman’s friendship dates back to the grime-caked New York City of the late 1980s when Unsane and Cop Shoot Cop shared a rehearsal space, it took the two until 2019 to start writing music together. And while their debut album was already extremely solid, it wasn’t until they added Cooper and Syverson to the line-up that they became a solid unit that is firing on all cylinders.
Spencer noted that ‘Gone Dark’ deals with the state of the world, so having an opening track called ‘Collapse’ makes sense. And things only get uglier from there on. Human Impact deals in precision-driven noise-rock with pummeling drums, basslines that will make your teeth rattle and riffs that are as subtle as a hammer to the head. Pour some dark ambience, processed field recordings, street rants and industrial grinding over it all, along with Spencer’s trademark bark and you are looking at an album that is as uncomfortable as it gets.
Gone Dark track listing:
- Collapse
- Hold On
- Destroy to Rebuild
- Reform
- Imperative
- Disconnect
- Corrupted
- Repeat
- Lost All Trust
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
