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AUTHOR & PUNISHER
Krüller
2022, Relapse Records

Now, perhaps more than ever before, the most important part to remember about Tristan Shone and his vision, is the bit about Punisher. Krüller is absolutely meant to injure, to maim, to absolutely eviscerate every fledgling thought you have about just what music can be and the effect it can have. Due in no small part to the fact that Shone’s machines are him, and he them, this time around more traditional elements have been added in, including live guitar.

Album number 9 showcases growth and stagnation all at once, themes of apocalypse writ large but the ink is fading, and hope itself is a foregone conclusion. Somehow, some way. AUTHOR & PUNISHER are once again aiming for a very visceral reaction, something you can feel in your guts. The sounds here are as off kilter as ever, unsettling and slightly worrisome as the very best Industrial ought to be. The marriage of man and machine is not meant to be a flowery business.

Krüller doesn’t mean anything. It’s a made up word (like all words). In that ambiguity of definition, then, one begins to truly define. I know that read like some pedantic psychobabble, but the fact is there are so many layers to the album and its emotional weight that to leave the piece of art essentially undefined is… fitting. Standout tracks like “Centurion” and the stupefying “Maiden Star” drive home the varied influence and influencing going on throughout AUTHOR & PUNISHER but more importantly, Krüller speaks to the individual, to vision.

Taken as a whole, the experience of AUTHOR & PUNISHER has never been an easily digestible meal. So come in, sit down, and get comfortable. Dig in.

Krüller is one of the best things to come out this year. I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

4.75 Out Of 5.0