Rigorous Institution: The Coming of the Terror 7″

Description

From the Moors of Spider Leg era Amebix, across the future wasteland vistas of “Monolith”, comes Rigorous Institution. Tattered banners stuck in blood soaked soil, words of warning on fly swarming winds.

Our take: Weve carried a few releases from Portlands Rigorous Institution (including a demo tape and a 7 on Black Water), but this is the first time Im giving them a close listen. It looks like I need to secure copies of bothof the previous releases, because Im flipping out over The Coming of the Terror. Rigorous Institution takes a lot of inspiration from Amebix (which may be the reason I didnt check them out before; while I like the Spiderleg-era stuff, Im not the biggest Amebix fan), but thats akin to saying the Sex Pistols took a lot of inspiration from the New York Dolls. You can hear the connection, but Rigorous Institution goes so much further. They stress the thudding weight of Amebixs riffing and production, wielding their instruments like primitive medieval weaponry. But while much of Amebixs music sounds airy and wide open, Rigorous Institution drapes everything in a menacing, nigh-impenetrable fog. The two songs on the a-side could have soundtracked the final battle against the army of the dead on Game of Thrones, as these tracks are similarly grim, heavy, chaotic, and brutal. The b-side is the real treat, though. While the song at the core mines a similar metal-punk style as the two tracks on the a-side, the band gets drowned out by a psychedelic swirl of chanting monks, clanking chains, and what sounds to me like one long trumpet note announcing the coming of the apocalypse (but I assume is the same symphonic synth sound they use on the rest of the record). Its one of those tracks where you stare at the speakers, asking yourself what exactly the fuck it is that youre hearing. Recommended if you think blasting Bathory’s Blood Fire Death whiledoing peyote in the Scottish highlands sounds like a cool time.