Album Review: Gynoid – The Hunger Artist Show (Kontingent Records)

Gynoid is a 3-piece noise rock band from Thessaloniki, Greece, comprised of Spyros Tsalouchidis (guitar/vocals), Panagiotis Dedis (bass guitar), and Nikos Dimitriou (drums). They are releasing their debut album, “The Hunger Artist Show” on April 23rd, 2021 via Kontingent Records.

Inspired by multiple facets of Greek society, the media, and mental illness, aims to portray the dehumanisation and general ugliness of human beings and the power structures that surround them.

Buzzing through the skull, the blast of screeches that greet on the short intro of Interference is no preparation for the thick riffs, blasting percussion and shouted vocals that come on The Collar. There’s some groove to this noise, but it’s also very unusual and dangerously heavy when it needs to be. It is a great start though.

Things get so much better though with the jerky weirdness and insanely intense bursts of wildness with My Pet Worms. Just when you think it can’t surprise anymore, a deep drop into bassy coolness and the frenzy that follows is electrifying.

Scissorman’s tempo is less frantic but somehow it still sounds like Gynoid are throwing themselves about with complete abandon. It’s confounding in its ability to make things feel so wild without actually being a noisy mess. Then we get Garbageman (Apeman) where a wicked twangy guitar melody, rumbling bass drums and explosively twisted vocals makes it one to remember.

Loving this so far but Gynoid are far from done with their experimentation as the final two tracks showcase. Beginning first with Mannequin, where distorted guitars, moody percussion and brutal flashes of crunchy metal intensity rule. The other track is My Mirror, My Master and it is undoubtedly Gynoid’s most elaborate and wacky effort. The subtle but off-kilter start builds and builds getting more and more jarring and in your face as it goes on. Eventually, it is just ear-splitting sharpness being jabbed in over and over again. Before finally fading out.

Gynoid have crafted a very unique noise rock album here, one with more variety then you might expect. It’s weird but it’s also bloody wonderful.

Gynoid – The Hunger Artist Show Full Track Listing:

1. Interference
2. The Collar
3. My Pet Worms
4. Scissorman
5. Garbageman (Apeman)
6. Mannequin
7. My Mirror, My Master

Links

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