Album review: Author & Punisher – Nocturnal Birding

For 20 years now, Author & Punisher – the brainchild of mainman Tristan Shore – have been making music that firmly pits man against machine. Combining metallic heaviness, intentionally computer-ish electronics and machine-like industrial noise, the results are often a brutal, nightmarish vision of urban waste and futuristic dystopia, artfully pushed to its potential by a genuinely creative and imaginative artist.

The surprise with Nocturnal Birding comes not from its hard, grim sounds that could come from a dark alley in Judge Dredd’s Mega-City One, but in its far more natural inspirations. Tristan says that many of the root melodies were inspired by actual birdsong. So, Rook is based on rooks, Black Storm Petrel the petrel, and so on. It hasn’t made things any lighter, though.

Around this, things remain full of dread and industrialised anxiety. Opener Meadowlark sees a chuggy riff marching along on a stone-faced drum tattoo, as bassy synths create swirling shadows behind it. Titanis’ guitars sound like Korn at their most abrasive, frequently tunnelling into rhythmic breakaways courtesy of Indonesian outfit Kuntari, while Thrush is an enormous wall of guitar and keys, sounding like he’s riffing along to the Bladerunner soundtrack.

On Titmouse, Tristan digs into “the physical and mental fatigue” of migrants covering thousands of miles with few supplies, the bird connection being that the titmouse is itself a traveller, who can remember the many places in which it has hidden seeds. Even without knowing this, it is the sound of stress itself. Rook, meanwhile, is comparatively fun, with its clubby, gothic tinge.

Unlike actual birdsong, Nocturnal Birding wouldn’t be particularly pleasant to wake up to. Despite the beauty of its inspiration, the result is more like the blood-chilling squawk of a vulture. Punishing, indeed.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Perturbator, Fear Factory, Godflesh

Nocturnal Birding is released on October 3 via Relapse