BRUIT ≤ goes big for their debut album, but is compromised with its heavy-handed elements.
BRUIT ≤’s debut album got quite a following on the RYM community for quite a while, I managed to listen to it a couple of times so here goes. It’s alright?
Because as much as the compositions are generally well-composed and grand at the right spots, its grandeur and concept just felt like it’s something that’s been done before. The composition, album title, and spoken poetry present a grand scale of systems dissipating and corrupting in a rather apocalyptic fashion, with the droning guitar passages and effects, classical instruments trying to show what the world will be with said destruction of systems. And I think the problem is that the sentiment feels heavy-handed, especially with the droning elements that circulate ‘Amazing Old Tree’ and ‘The Machine is Burning’ with the latter having said grand sentiment compromised with the heavy-handedness of the poetry and the track title. And with the production very polished and the compositions leaving not much space to breathe or to go into something more interesting, which leads to the album to be some kind of an uninteresting album soundtrack for a documentary that speaks about the disruption of systems.
I think there are some good parts here, especially with the grand swells that surround ‘Industry’, ‘Renaissance’, and the first half of ‘The Machine is Burning’ before sputtering out with the obvious droning passage. But overall, I respect it. It just feels heavy-handed for me, that’s all.
Favorite Tracks: Industry, Renaissance
Least Favorite Track: Amazing Old Tree