Grey Daturas
Return To Disruption

Grey Daturas are an orthodox rock trio (Robert MacManus drums, Bonnie Mercer guitar, Robert Mayson bass), hailing from none other than the antipodean continent of Australia, with their executive center in the suburbs of Melbourne, yet they, in truth, do not advocate anything orthodox.

After debuting more than five years ago (2002) with a self-titled work [also known as the "Black Album"], subsequently releasing a substantial series of works of various structural nature, sharing their efforts equally between CD-R splits and various EPs, a few months ago they returned to the attention of their admirers with their peculiar and rough sonic jumble with the remarkable fourth long-distance effort, released through the grace of Neurot Recordings: "Return To Disruption".

"Disruption" indeed seems to be an appropriate sensation to represent what these Gentlemen manifest/achieve within the seven heavy fragments staged here: an instrumental experimental-noise(rock?) with a charmingly grouchy and formally misaligned character, tending towards a darkly pigmented free-style cacophonism; among the various references cited by the ensemble, those genuinely traceable within their own chaotic and dashing expressive module appear to be as follows: a pinch of Sun Ra, a handful of Albert Ayler, a spoonful of John Cage, fifty grams of Throbbing Gristle, a bunch of Sonic Youth, a ladle of Black Flag, half a kilo of Neurosis, two dustings of Birthday Party, Wolf Eyes to satiety. In fact, these are veiled warnings, subliminal references: the ruinous and unhealthy swamp in which they love to wallow and dive presents a multiplicity of cohesive yet unhealthy structural elements not exactly uniquely identifiable.

"Beyond And Into The Ultimate" inaugurates the libations in a bristly resolute manner: a reckless path made of instruments that brutally collide with each other in a praiseworthy attempt to climb onto others’ sounds: as if each organized their personal ruckus, finally placing it into generous misappropriation of the other entities within the setup: I’d say admirable, indeed. And what to say about the unrestrained catastrophism filled with hissing, sneers, whistles, and alienating frequencies placed following the first thirty pleonastically pseudo-grind seconds of the meat grinder "Balance Of Convenience"?

Indeed, I would be an unqualifiable boor not to simultaneously argue about the excessively discontinuous evolution of the track(s): not always does the musical tension (the shimmering "Undisturbed", the purgatory under the guise of the title-track) manage to support itself linearly high and paroxysmally constant: these are, in essence, negligible trifles that indeed do not detract from the persistent work generously offered.

Do yourself harm. Give it a taste*.

*If they are not quite to your liking, there is the True Apocalypse which can be found in heavy rotation everywhere.