3TEETH the L.A four piece that have seemingly re-invented industrial music for the digital age have been turning heads with the slow intravenous drip of material over the last year. Through impressive use of social media and Soundcloud they’ve built up anticipation but also cleverly only revealed 3 of the tracks featured on their debut self titled album. The band have rather shrewdly utilised a whole host of remixes from an eclectic mix of artists to keep the momentum they’d been building going. In the last few days 3TEETH have exploded like a particularly vicious clusterbomb after streaming their album via several sites, crashing into the download chart on iTunes and Bandcamp, clocking in at #9 in the overall chart for the latter.
So now their album is finally here was it worth the wait or is it, as is often the case in the digital age all hype no substance?
The short answer to that is a resounding yes. If through some confluence of events 3TEETH never released another album they will have firmly planted their flag on the musical landscape, in an age where everything is disposable and forgotten in minutes this debut has permanence at its core.
Even after repeated listens ominous album opener “Nihil” still sends a shiver down the spine with its chainsaw guitar and vocal mantra of “Bound by flesh. Freed by blood”and will undoubtedly become the bands anthem. “Consent” is all blaring distorted sounds, samples and a thudding back beat, “Dust” meanwhile is built around a discordant guitar riff and ebbs and flows building to a great crescendo.
Whilst 3TEETH may provoke comparisons to Ministry, Front Line Assembly, “Broken” era NIN or even Aphex Twin they never sound like anything other than 3TEETH. Melody, pulsating rhythm, abrasive noise, and ominous atmosphere all feature and often on the same track.
Clocking in at 14 tracks, it’s as surprising as it is refreshing to see that there’s no filler here and the tracks that have been previously released slot in perfectly, “Master of decay” is as haunting and atmospheric as it was almost a year ago. Elsewhere “Unveiled” is a surprising melodic highlight which contrasts massively with the rhythmic stomp of tracks like “Dissolve” and “X-Day” and the jagged guitar noise of “Eradicate” whilst album closer “Too far gone” is a stunning composition which wouldn’t be out of place on the opening credits of a film.
3TEETH’s debut is a heavy contender for album of the year.
Download it from Bandcamp or iTunes buy physical media here
