Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 03/06/2007
After testing established musical thresholds with two critically lauded EPs, Germany's
Volt captured the art of calculated chaos on their 2006 full-length
Rorhat. The majority of these improbably funky alien transmissions --
"Kreutz," "Griffel," "Frommbug," "Stativ" -- find the trio conducting spastic experiments in new millennium
no wave and
noise rock. All of them being more energetic and danceable (if you can dance like you're having a seizure, that is) than
Swans or
Unsane, yet not quite howl-at-the-moon wacko à la
the Jesus Lizard (just close enough to see their house from here). San Francisco's
Totimoshi make for a good, contemporaneous parallel as well, thanks to the screeched, nonsensical vocal exclamations, disciplined guitar crunch, and searing dissonant waves conjured up by
Volt frontman
Andre. So too are New York's seminal
Helmet given the equally unpredictable, but mechanically precise rhythm section laid down by bassist
Nico and drummer
Boris, which punctuates
Volt's inspired mega-grooves with clinical perfection. In due time, the trio arrives at an even more eclectic songwriting triptych made up of the quasi-sludge, stream-of-conscience ramblings of
"Hospital in Wales," the
industrial-lite bridge
"Praecrox," and the manic outburst of
"Dr. Crox Medua"; then, for the grand, warped finale, they devolve into a relatively sparse, 13-minute
ambient-drone odyssey named after the group. This brings the album's entire duration to just under 36 minutes, which may be a little short by most long-playing standards, but rather fits the bill here, if one is to measure value-for-money by
Rorhat's deep reserves of unconventionality and daring creativity.
~Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
;)
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