Diploid - I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again. (Album Review)
DIPLOID - I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again.
Released: September 3, 2021
Lineup:
Reece Prain | Vocals, Bass
Mariam Benjemaa | Vocals, Guitar
Scarlett Shred | Drums
Online:
For over a decade, Diploid have been bringing unfiltered rage and despair to the Melbourne music scene and beyond. Over the years they have snowballed their underground success into critical acclaim, winning Music Victoria’s ‘Best Heavy Music Album’ for their 2019 release Glorify. The three piece grindcore outfit have toured extensively, both nationally and internationally. Tearing up music venues across Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and beyond - supporting punk icons such as Full of Hell, Cancer Bats and Integrity. As 2021 settles in, Diploid bring us album number 4, the 25 minute, 18 track (that’s 0.72 songs per minute) angst-driven hellscape: I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again.
Punk music, and its derivatives, have always stood to be a visceral form of expression for the oppressed. Diploid’s I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again. successfully distills this ethos into the absinthe of sonic experiences. A throat burning, stomach turning, face shredding, full forced swig - something likely to also leave you with mild hallucinations. Constructed on Wurundjeri land during a 100-day lockdown, this album deconstructs the themes of “genocide and radicalisation” and the feelings of helplessness one can feel when attempting to change the world for the better. With an impressive production that walks the line of raw aggression and modern sheen like a seasoned tightrope artist, courtesy of Chrisopher Brownbill of Underground Audio (recording and mixing) and Matthew Grey of Matthew Grey Mastering (mastering). The band, once again, brings us a no-holds-barred approach to their song writing, and makes three people sound like a thousand screaming hornets (in a good way).
Perhaps the first thing that struck me about I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again is the perfect ability to pace itself structurally. The album plays out as an almost seamless back-to-back experience. Which, for a grindcore album, can often mean that all of the songs are eight seconds long and use the heaviest common denominator (chug chug widdle widdle blast blast horror movie sample). I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again, instead, feels calculated and highly intentional. Bringing the listener on a dissonant and hate filled journey of chaotic speeds, doom-y down tempos, atmospheric drones, and avant garde exploration. All of this, while maintaining the aggression and thematic intensity, so much sought after in extreme music such as this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8uTCWsO3mQ
I found it difficult to pick standout songs for this album, as I feel it is something best consumed whole. By no stretch do I count this as a negative, however. The brevity of the album and the songs that make it up lend itself to a full listening experience, something I feel would be lost in the tangles of a shuffled playlist. I think to this effect is perhaps why the band has not released any singles prior to the album dropping. My personal favourite tracks, however, were: ‘There Was Little To Drag Out’ which carries a vast amount of dissonant energy and immediately shows off the chops of the very skilled musicians in the band; ‘Disease Carrier’, a track that is so gosh darn heavy and uncomfortable I fell in love instantly; ‘The World Is Overflowing With Sorrow’ which shows off some interesting electronic/organic hybridisation and has a metric butt-tonne of atmosphere; and finally the closing track ‘Active Shooter’, an almost entirely electronic tune, which carries a jarring unconventional apocalyptic beat, and happens to be the longest on the album.
I can recommend this album not only for the seasoned grindcore fanatic, but also to the extended post-rock and avant garde community, to fans of mathcore and hardcore, and perhaps even beyond. I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again, encapsulates the terror felt when standing against a system so perfectly designed to destroy.
DIPLOID - I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again. Tracklisting:
1. Falling
2. There Was Little to Drag Out
3. God’s Injunction
4. Disease Control
5. Abominable Licentiousness
6. Death March
7. Failure to Deradicalize
8. The World Is Overflowing With Sorry
9. False Repentant
10. Vertical Chamber
11. Scorched Earth
12. Muselmann
13. His Arms Bound
14. Empathy
15. A Mountain of Charred Corpses
16. Relapsing Exhaustion
17. Incomplete Skyline
18. Active Shooter
Rating: 7.8/10
I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again. is out now via Heavy Machinery Records. Get it via Bandcamp now.
Review By - Matthew Gedling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSWocFgAYec
