PART TWO - THE ENDLESS NOT

Out of the blue in 2004 Throbbing Gristle banged heads together and finally got down to releasing new material for the first time in 23 years. This 2007 release is however a mixed bag. It's a bag full of spanners and diamonds. The seriously weird Genesis P Orridge re-appeared with botox lips, breast implants and no doubt some dodgy goings on in the trouser department.

We have the difficult problem of context in this recording. 1978's 'Hamburger Lady' - the burn victim song set the foundation in stone of all TG recordings henceforth. Therefore how do you satisfy the hardcore fans? A very troublesome quandary indeed.

The super opener 'Vow of Silence' is one way to start, where demented digitally treated vocals are splattered over 'Coil' mastermind Peter Christopherson's industrial electronics. What's created is a swirling devilish sound of impending catastrophe.

I'm feeling sea-sick already and we're only 7 minutes in. Such a pity then that 'Rabbit Snare' has such feeble vocals over the top of an otherwise great, creepy track. If only he'd used those famous Dalek effects on his voice this could have been fantastic. As it is, I cringe at the awful stringy and flimsy vocal power that P- Orridge delivers here.

The whole album has a very 'Coil' feel throughout. 'Chris and Cosey' - the other two members who've had a long musical career by themselves sound almost redundant throughout this recording. More than likely they were involved in the evaporated guitar tune 'Separated'. This sounds original TG more than most of these tracks.

'Almost a Kiss' is an incredibly weak track which should have been expunged from the outset. Dreadfully poor vocals are delivered through lips you can almost visualise as being the size of bananas as P-Orridge delivers some of the worst conventional, without treatment vocals I've ever heard. It's bloody torture in fact. A zero out of ten. How annoying then that it goes on for almost 7 minutes. This is the biggest 'spanner' in the works as mentioned in my intro as far as this album goes. Dreadful fare...

'Greasy Spoon' sounds very similar to 'It's in My Blood' from Coil's "Ape of Naples ' LP. No bad thing - as I love that track with it's deeply malevolent electronic throbbing vibe.

Genesis P-Orridge finally comes good with 'Lyre Lyre' (Liar, Liar geddit?) due to the immense distortion on his vocals. It sounds like the victims point of view whilst being stretched on the rack by the Spanish Inquisition as he threatens all sorts of eternal damnation. It's torture noise from hell.

There's one last great tune in the title track. Sounding just like a dirty, heavy "Coil' tune. It's therefore more 'Psychic TV' than Throbbing Gristle. This album is a real Rubik's cube of all 3 artists who went on to record after 1981. The overall feel is one of a 'Coil' album but with some 'Psychic TV' vocals which at times are excellent and at others, truly awful.