In the darkest recesses of some of our minds lies an unspeakable and unknowable terror, and some artists have brushed against that darkness throughout time (some recent examples might be H.P. Lovecraft, Francis Bacon, and a select few others) and Cacophony is a perfect illustration for the madness induced by such brushes with our inner demons; although nowhere near as well known or lauded by the majority of the punk / hardcore community,Rudimentary Peni has a strident coterie of devoted individuals that swear by the unique musical and aesthetic vision put forth by the band considering them a touchstone of death punk.
This reissue of Cacophony is long overdue as the LP versions of this seminal ode to the themes of the aforementioned Lovecraft fetched obscene amounts of dollars, Euros, etc for the original slab of wax; and the original CD press is noticeably “older” when listening to more modern offerings in the format, making this new sonic-ly upgraded version a welcome option for hearing this semi obscure but wholly essential record.
I have thought long and hard about how to discuss Cacophony and many times over have come up mostly speechless in trying to describe how this three piece deftly ties its collection songs on this record, but one aspect of this album that always kind of hangs out in the recesses of my conscious is that those recesses are just where Cacophony lives and breathes; at times noise-y and kinetic resembling something more akin to modern day screaming punk (“Night Gaunts”, “Crazed Couplet”) while at other times resembling some pretty poppy punk (moments in “Horrors In The Museum”) or snotty punk rock (“The Only Child”, “Lovecraft Baby”), the sense of “other” that pervades the music of Rudimentary Peni here comes from the lyrics and sneering vocal delivery and the borderline disturbing noises and spoken word (check out “Evil Clergyman” or “Architechtonic And Dominant” or “Brown Jenkin” or any number of parts of songs that dot the landscape of the record).
Cacophony is undoubtedly a masterpiece of demented sound and crushing punk rock (in the sense that this is dense and heavy listening that sneers at the lace curtains of polite society) that may now be able to receive its just desserts as a unique and singularly landmark album with this re-issue, and though this offering from Rudimentary Peni is by no means a record that I can pop on any time, when the mood strikes, having this sucker to pop on my turntable after years of waiting is just awesome; the re-issue is a solid release that would be a solid if not essential addition to any punk rocker’s record collection, though I would love to have had some extensive liner notes (an aspect of re-issues that I absolutely love) to devour.
