Sleetmute Nightmute - Night of the Long Knives (Fast Weapons, 2010)

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After lending this Portland quartet some praise on my list of 20 favorite albums of 2010, I felt that I should pay Sleetmute Nightmute more tribute than just a one-paragraph explanation as to how Night of the Long Knives struck me. After seven years of this album's patience within the Troubleman Unlimited vault, Fast Weapons have finally unveiled a no(w) wave classic. Sleetmute Nightmute had a brief lifespan of two years, leaving Night of the Long Knives as the only documentation of the band's work alongside a 7" single.

At six tracks that total up to 26 minutes, we're presented with uncivilized, tempestuous blasts of squall a la Shearing Pinx. With two guitarists, there is a clear distinction between the two tones: one has a vile, filthy, and distorted tone while another has a timbre that I would liken to a bent, broken and obsolete piece of machinery; the bass vacillates relentlessly; the drums have the vicious fury of grindcore while miraculously maintaining a tempo; the vocals are reminiscent of Die Monitr Batss' lethargic chants-- all of these elements equate to one of the most cathartic albums this side of the non-musical spectrum.

Night of the Long Knives, though very unforgiving, avoids the two main detriments that come with the territory of what they play. For one, Sleetmute Nightmute have the ability to control their chaos with heavily calculated interplay; a single song will quickly jump from cacophonous to taciturn within a mere second; songs like the title track showcase intense flurries of noise, while others like "Scaring The Birds... Don't Speak My Name" bring the structure to a lingering crawl, rendering this band an anomaly amongst their contemporaries who seem to be plagued by sloppiness. Night of the Long Knives is also very concise-- which may seem like a complaint if it didn't help the album refrain from reiteration or overt complacency.

It's no wonder why the eventual release Night of the Long Knives kept people on their toes; if it never received the wide availability (vinyl and mp3) that it has, this gem would've gone completely unnoticed. For those who have been longing for another component of Night Wounds or AIDS Wolf to surface, it's imperative that you allow Sleetmute Nightmute's debut to fill the aggressive gap in your auditory senses.



[Listen to "Night of the Long Knives" on YouTube]
[Buy Night of the Long Knives from Fast Weapons]