Friday, May 24, 2013

If Then Else - warhead (1981)



If-Then-Else's Warhead stands as one of the lost monuments of the Post-Punk era.

It's intentions are made clear with opener "Hey Big Oil", that sounds like a locomotive whose steam-engine puffs menacingly, ready to demolish everything in it's path and bring forth devastation. The loose Minimalist cum Industrial cum Krautrock cum Progressive Electronic schematic "Sidewalker" isn't as menacing, but is an ample representation of the industrial wasteland they inhabit.

The repetitive stabbings of "The Wedge" are unambiguous in their appetite for destruction, while the more esoteric tension of "Warhead" hints towards mental disease. The machines run unchecked in "Crows Over A Parking Lot", marking a point in time where the promising era of technological advance has turned to an improvisational nightmare that's about to consume our lives.

Things have clearly gone out of control in the Acid Rock inferno "The Central Figure" and there is no turning back, as "Vesta" lugs you into a world of perpetual malaise and frenzy. The final destination of "Vernichtung" can only be schizophrenia, damaged circuitry, perennial ravage, and fried limbo
. Get it here (vinyl rip, includes pictures of the cover and vinyl).