by David Wilikofsky
Take a look at the cover of Clock of Time’s Pestilent Planet; that’s some Hieronymus Bosch shit right there. It’s also apt imagery to capture the essence of the music you’ll find inside. The Berlin based band is an underground punk supergroup of sorts, featuring members from Diat (a band that, in my opinion, put together one of the best post punk albums of recent memory with Positive Disintegration), Vexx and Useless Eaters. Pestilent Planet is as assured a debut album as you’d expect from a group of musicians with this pedigree. It’s an intoxicating blend of hooks and atmospherics that captures the horror and drudgery of our current condition.
The band comes out of the gate with “Something To Look Forward To”, a track that showcases their sound. Jagged guitar riffs sit at the center of the song while a driving bass line simmers below the surface and propels things forward. It’s full speed ahead until the end of the track, where everything abruptly slows down and stretches out into a dark, gothic passage before petering out. The rest of the album plays with different configurations of these basic elements, with each cut striking a different balance between them. “Funny Farm”, for instance, is all atmospheric sludge; it slowly oozes over you with unhurried, thick riffs. On the other hand, “Rotten Master” is more firmly on the post-punk side of the equation, emphasizing the angular, nervy energy of their sound.
In a way, this is musical comfort food; it will instantly sound like an old favorite to fans of the genres they reference. At the same time it is not necessarily easy listening. It’s apocalyptic rock, spinning tales of illness, corruption and judgement day. Indecipherable vocals blend into the music, only to emerge with some horrifying word or image that will hit you like a ton of bricks. It’s dark and brooding music that will serve as a perfect soundtrack to the unending dystopian nightmare we find ourselves in. At least you can dance to this apocalypse.