tētēma ‘Necroscape’ Review: Mike Patton and Anthony Pateras release another sonic chapter in their unique musical partnership.
Between recent and in-the-works projects/reunions with Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Jean Claude Vannier and Tomahawk, powerhouse vocalist Mike Patton has kept busier than even his normally insanely packed schedule allows.
And his seemingly endless prolific streak continues with Necroscape (April 3, Ipecac Recordings) his new album with tētēma, a project which also features co-founder Anthony Pateras (electronics), Erkki Veltheim (violin) and Will Guthrie (drums).
This is tētēma’s first release since their 2014 album Geocidal, and in many ways it capitalizes on all of Patton’s strengths as a vocalist, recalling past glories while still carving out new sonic territory for both its frontman and his collaborators.
The album kicks off with the title track, and its calming ambient wash of piano and vocal drones belies the rest of the album, suggesting something far more understated than what’s to come.
Follow-up track Cutlass Eye pierces the soothing veil with an industrial, sandpapery synth riff, topped off with Patton’s guttural vocals, before eventually trailing off with theremin-esque wails and cavernous crooning.
Wait Til Mornin’ jazzy, tropical luau-with-tiki-torches vibe, recalls Patton’s work on Mr. Bungle’s California: its breezy and warm, offering a sunny groove, while Haunted on the Uptake is a hardcore-fueled fever dream, offering a whiplash inducing groove with its off-kilter riffs and skittering, feral vocals.
All Signs Uncensored features manic Latin percussion and vocal shrieks before lapsing into oceanic soundscapes and hushed vocals, while Milked Out Million is an exercise is sustained dread, with banshee wail vocals coalescing around haunting vocoder and violin.
Soliloquy is a potentially seizure inducing effort, full of frenetic swirling synths and percussion, a glitchy hallucinatory passage that manages to be both punishing yet cerebral, while Dead Still‘s hushed, conspiratorial tone feels like aural film noir.
The album concludes with Sun Undone, and it shows the collective at the peek of their powers: a collage of eerie chants, synth squiggles and glitchy sonics with Patton’s disembodied vocals sounding like an A.M. radio transmission from a parallel dimension.
Necroscape is very much a challenging listen, but hardcore Patton fans were born for challenging listens, making this an easy sell for his faithful following. But its unique, crazy quilt mix of musical components should be just as engaging for any adventurous listener, Patton disciple or not. And in our current state of cabin fever, it offers a unique form of sonic escape.
