ninehertz

A coming together of two of the most vital bands in existence can only be a good thing right?

Yeah, sure, but this is far too short for how much of a fantastic opportunity this could have been. As a result the three Envy tracks on show here and the two Jesu are simply fantastic, but just too brief, the shoegaze and electronica of Jesu creeps into Envy's tracks like a perfect puzzle piece, the first song 'Conclusion Of Existence' has the marks of Broadrick all over it, the overall sonic sheeting that pervades every Jesu or Broadrick release is on offer here, but Envy show what they can do when they lay off the delay pedals and screaming here, truly beautiful.

Second track sounds like a track from 'Insomniac Doze' with a slowly building riff that suddenly explodes into a full-on raging blast of almost hardcore, recalling their early albums like 'The Eyes Of Single Eared Prophet'.

Their last contribution to the split is the Mogwai-esque 'Life Caught In The Rain' which takes dynamics and subtleties to extreme conclusion with a melody running through the heaviness and delayed screaming end that just brings a smile to the face.

Jesu's side is more drawn out. First effort from Mr Broadrick and co is the dark-electronica-fused 'Hard To Reach' which sounds like a floating out-take from last album 'Conqueror' all veiled beats and foghorn-like keys and synths with that Broadrick filter imposed that is the aural equivalent of being trapped in dense mountain fog, breathtaking, but nothing we haven't heard before from the ex-Godflesh mastermind.

Eventually this will appear on Hydrahead, but for now, appears courtesy of Envy's label Daymare.

Band websites: Envy MySpace , Jesu MySpace