Album Review: JAAW – Supercluster
If big riffs and even bigger hooks are the kind of thing that interests you then the new album from post-industrial supergroup JAAW may be the album for you. Post-industrial music isn’t exactly common in this day and age however when the collective minds of Andy Cairns, Jason Stoll, Wayne Adams, and Adam Betts are the ones laying down the music, you’d be foolish not to see what all the fuss was about. Here are my thought’s on their new album ‘Supercluster’!
Right off the bat, you are greeted with a gnarly guitar tone before the track unfolds into an upbeat and powerful monster of a song! In your face and surprisingly heavy, ‘Thought and Prayers (Mean Nothing)’ kicks the album off in a huge way. It’s catchy and memorable with very little that turns me off its captivating sound. A more brood-in-nature sound can be found on the track ‘Reality Check’, where the dominating percussion captures that beloved industrial feel while a reverberating vocal performance acts like the icing on top of a pretty infectious cake.
Making sure they’ve got you’re full attention, ‘Rot’ dials up the attitude and utilises some wild guitar tones to perfectly captivate the listener’s mind. One cannot simply resist the urge to bang their head along to this one! Bringing out a more sinister feel is ‘Total Protonic Reversal’. This slow and methodical track really comes across as quite creepy in parts. It’s brash in nature and powerful in execution!
This kind of album seems to be known for its lengthy tracks so don’t be surprised when the nearly 9-minute behemoth titled ‘Bring Home The Motherlode, Barry’ comes storming through. The song does an amazing job of creating a foreboding atmosphere before unleashing a plethora of chugging riffs and beefy percussion. Not wanting to stay in line, ‘Hellbent On Happiness’ picks the pace up 10 fold and absolutely decimates its surroundings. This one is surprisingly energetic and even feels like it has some thrash elements thrown into the mix!
‘The Dead Drop’ is the album’s most atmospheric number by far as its use of different effects and tones captures the essence of the 90’s industrial scene perfectly before building up to a more modern take on the iconic sound. This flows nicely into the album’s final track titled ‘Army Of Me’ which really leans into the distortion effects to give off a more rustic sound. The real highlight on this track is the way the drumming seems to sporadically transform into fill heaven at times and it just itches that part of my brain better than anything else on this record!
This album as a whole is a huge statement from JAAW. It does an amazing job of transforming a genre that has almost been lost to time a bit and giving it a new lease on life. These kinds of records please both older fans and newcomers alike which seems to be increasingly difficult to do in this day and age. I’ll be interested to see where the band go from here!