Thetan‘s Abysmal is a lesson in unhinged, insane powerviolence. Clocking in at 18 tracks and around the same number of minutes, the drum and bass duo from Nashville—you may know them from a split with Bleed the Pigs—deliver scathing bursts of speed bookended by raging, hardcore breakdowns. On album closer “Null and Void,” which Decibel is streaming today, Thetan lose their minds for about 23 seconds before settling into a feedback-ridden breakdown driven by pounding drums and shrieked vocals—it works extremely well in the context of the album, but it’s also a killer piece of work on its own.
“This song was recorded on two separate occasions,” Thetan write to Decibel in an email. “The first version has a long intro and the words are a little different. Nobody may ever hear that version. You’re welcome. The context of the song has everything to do with how we interact in the 21st century. We have grown to be incredibly withdrawn, cynical people. I am guilty of this as well. As communication evolves into a more open forum, instant validation from strangers takes presence over inter-personal relationships. We hold so much of ourselves back in fear of not being accepted by a mass of people who we may never meet face to face. In return, we are drip fed bits and pieces of insight into celebrity lives so that we have something to aspire to be, while losing focus of the people we actually are. Bullshit goes in, and bullshit comes out.”
That last line will make more sense once you listen to “Null and Void.” Check it out and pre-order the album via Anti-Corporate Music.
