Prurient – Frozen Niagara Falls (2015) Review

This is probably the most neurotic yet sensible album I have heard this year. Prurient is the moniker for Dominick Fernow, a noise/experimental master in the world of music. His catalog is rich of releases, with Frozen Niagara Falls being the brand new album. Recently signing to Profound Lore Records has allowed Fernow to be more courageous and not have to worry about any particular direction to shape his music in, leaving the world of noise all his to dive into.

Opening track “Myth of Building Bridges” is very metallic in sound, featuring a heavy vocal dub that sounds as if a robot is talking through a voice changer through a speaker inside of a panic room. You may not even realize there are vocals, rather intense and heavy rattles of crystallized noise fighting through the static drones and spacey groove. “Dragon Flies to Sew You Up” is a schizophrenic banger with tortured vocals that contradict the more soothing piano and guitar humbling around in the background.

Order Prurient, Frozen Niagara Falls here.

This album takes a very long and dedicated time to listen too. Plenty of feelings will happen the further you involve yourself in the noise. The sensation of being crushed by flakes of pulsating discordant snow in “Traditional Snowfall” to finally breathing calmly with still drones in “Jester in Agony” is hypnotizing to say the least. Certain samples will leave you confused and angered while others will take you on a journey through an acid-laced story that makes you question everything, which is ever so evident on “Greenpoint.” “Falling Mask” is a song that agonizingly tortures me because it is wretched and raw, heard in the desperate vocal approach.

“Christ Among the Broken Glass” is audibly the closest thing to a “normal” song among these 16 tracks. It has wonderful guitar melodies with haunting whispers present upon a ominous droning presence in the background. It is very surreal and that is what makes Prurient such a fantastic project.

The Verdict:

Frozen Niagara Falls is a behemoth of a release. It encompasses a variety of styles of noise, blending them together into an amalgamation of experimental inspiration. Definitely worth a listen, but only the darkest of minds should enter because it forbids anyone who enjoys purity.