Unitron
After releasing a few singles in 1986/1987, British industrial group Slab! took their sound in a much darker, sludgier, and more dissonant direction than their more upbeat singles had shown. Mind you, this was still 1987. Godflesh hadn't formed yet, and Ministry still had no metal elements in their music. I can only imagine how jarring Slab's studio album debut would have sounded to music fans back in 1987.
Slab's Descension is adorned with a simplistic blue album cover, which seems to showcase the urban legends of giant mutated reptiles coming out of the sewers to roam the streets free. This fits, as the album has a massive sound that wreaks about as much havoc that one of these giant beasts would. Descension still showcases all of the influences that their singles featured, industrial, metal, funk, jazz, and even the avant-garde, but cranks up the industrial and the metal.
The album opens right up with the misleadingly titled "Tunnel of Love", which is one of the heaviest and most dissonant tracks. The mechanical, crunching, and crashing dissonance is contrasted perfectly with an infectiously catchy beat that immediately gets the listener grooving. This song, along with "Undriven Snow" and the misanthropic "Flirt" predate Godflesh, yet sound like they could have come straight from a classic Godflesh album.
The greatest song on the album, and one of the greatest industrial tracks is easily "Dolores", which will change the way you think about funky bass playing. The main riff is infectiously catchy industrial funk, but right after the main chorus the bass remains funky and catchy as hell yet becomes so dissonant. It's impossible to not get lost in the locked in groove. Some other highlights on the album is the jazzy "Dr. Bombay", the ominous "Gutter Busting", and "Loose Connection Somewhere".
While unfortunately Slab! remains an obscure band, Descension is perhaps the very first industrial metal album. It provides somewhat of a missing link between the early material of Killing Joke and KMFDM with the primal sound of Godflesh and Ministry. For industrial metal fans, this is essential listening. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!