As humanity hurtles chaotically, blindly, and seemingly willingly towards what may well be its last act, The Netherlands, NYC’s hulking, intoxicatingly heavy progressive-sludge trio, has returned with an LP that attempts to filter the fury, glimmers of hope, and untenable intensity of life in the anthropocene into a 10 song narrative whirlwind which sounds, unlike anything you’ve ever heard.
‘SEVERANCE’ is the 9th release from multi-instrumentalist, compulsive creator, and unrepentant volume addict Timo Ellis (Cibo Matto, Spacehog, Yoko Ono) under The Netherlands moniker. ‘SEVERANCE’ features all the hallmarks of Ellis’ work, including blistering post-shred guitar heroics, primal drumming, and soulful, yet searing caterwauls.
But, as with every Netherlands release, Ellis has inexplicably found a way to ratchet up the intensity, render the dynamic shifts more extreme, and hone his menacing melange of melody and rhythm into a uniquely weaponized form of rock ‘n’ roll that reaches towards high art.
While Ellis is perpetually working, he’s not one to work without a grander purpose than loud music for the sake of loud music.
In man’s own words, “’SEVERANCE’ suggests a catastrophic separation, explosively brought about in the last 250 years by techno-industrial civilization and the human supremacist worldview, which separates us from the Earth, from each other, and from ourselves.
“This album is about the urgent need to return to values, traditions, and rituals that restore our connection with the Earth, all of its creatures, and ourselves. It’s about abolishing corporate capitalism, unchecked technological expansion, and halting the unnecessary pillaging of this planet’s creatures and ‘resources’…about a path forward that integrates modern foundations of fairness, community, compassion, love, and sovereignty for all people, animals, and Earth systems.”
An admittedly heavy conceptual weight to lift, ‘SEVERANCE’s exceptionally cinematic arc is aided by Ellis’ stream-of-conscience prose which lends an earnest, exasperated voice to the outrage so many of us feel in our daily lives as we’re blinded by screens and lulled into complacency by various systems of oppression.
