There’s certainly value in bands that find a tried and true formula and then ride that formula for the entire existence of the band. Known quantities are a profound comfort in a world full of the unknown. Personally, however, I prefer more often than not to see bands continually stretch their wings, even if those experimentations or new elements are minor. Despite only forming in 2017 and now releasing their third album, Tennessee’s Knoll has shown a propensity for pushing themselves in new directions. As Spoken is the band’s longest album at 41 minutes, but also their most varied. Even the way the album grinds is a bit different this time around.
The best example of this push and pull against the music is with the back-to-back longer tracks of “Revive The Light” and “Mereward.” The early part of the former has a diabolically whirling guitar line that sounds like its fighting to swirl toward the sky. Eventually, guitarist Ryan Cook’s saxophone comes in and creates sustained claxon call notes that last just long enough to become uncomfortable before little wavers make it known that the song can’t hold in its current form. The horn gives a discomforting backdrop to the grinding guitars, and as the song devolves, the kick drums take over the responsibility of highlighting the track’s collapse. As the middle of the song pulses and slows, the kicks are steady but erratic in their speed. Like a dying video game character, they take these bursts of quick runs and then sputter back to a stumble. The song devolves into a quieter, noise-laden close before “Mereward” kicks in with a drunken, woozy riff that has just a touch of groove. As it wobbles along, the guitars stretch and lose that groove as if the drunkenness has reached a new level and the song is about to hurl. The song retains a sense of grind and hits violent bursts, but it primarily is an experiment of the instruments grinding against the notes and dragging the listener through a hellish experience. Even the less chaotic moments where the ugly notes are echoing about feel like the auditory equivalent of getting the spins.
“Portrait,” another five-minute song, foregoes the typical pace of grind for the steady forward grind of tank-tread-style riff and momentum. The notes may be quickly played, but the sense is a mid-paced, relentless trudge. Like any war scene, it’s cut through with manic bursts of blasts and screeches that fly in and out like a brief hail of gunfire. Then, that tank hits about 40 landmines all at once and the song bursts apart flinging countless notes at the listener like shrapnel and body parts flying everywhere. Such a sequence doesn’t last long before the tank treads return as the next in line trudges forward once again.
Knoll hasn’t forgotten how to blast away at a short track on As Spoken, though. “Wept Fountain” has moments of almost thrashy drumming, that inject a bit of “fun” in a cacophony. “Offering” has militant rhythms and ends with a collapsing open passage reminiscent of Messhugah’s “Mind’s Mirrors.” “Unto viewing” lets the guitars jump above the din in a manner that creates a more identifiable hook. A personal favorite of mine, “Fettered Oath,” has the saxophone scribbling in tandem with guitars, creating even more chaos but it’s also layered and played in a way that you might miss it if not on headphones.
Even the way the band closes the album with a minute of a repeated aurally grinding passage that devolves into a live-style mess of notes is intentionally assaultive of the listener. As Spoken is far from easy listening and Knoll seems perfectly fine making their audience uncomfortable. If you’re game for grind that’s noisy, chaotic and dense, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a band that does it better than Knoll. Album number three is another bright feather in the cap of a relatively young band.
