Pierrepoint

review by Travis Baumann

I had been anxiously awaiting a time when I could see Pierrepoint live for at least six years now if not longer. I have been a huge fan of theirs since I first came into contact with David Kirvel's intense distorted lyrics mixing perfectly with danceable noise-rhythms and excellent sound sculptures.

I had been listening quite repeatedly to the live-in-Leipzig 2000 album that had come out and was even more excited about getting to witness this live. Pierrepoint was scheduled to go on in the smaller hall of Werk II. As we went in we saw the massive wrack mounted gear set up on stage and smoke began to fill the small, already stuffy room. As the stage filled in completely with smoke, obscuring everything, a green strobe light began flickering at its absolute highest frequency, nearly inducing seizures in the crowd immediately.

At this point some repetitive techno beats with some distortion began playing. This continued for approximately twenty five minutes with miniscule changes in the pulses, bleeps and beats but nothing similar to what I was expecting or anticipating from last year's live recording. After twenty five minutes of watching a blank wall of smoke flicker and listening to ambient techno, Suicide Commando was starting so we got the hell out of there and went into the other room. I had been expecting some more sound-scapish noise stuff for sure but on the CD, by track three, he is singing "words of power rule" but here, no vocals or even recognizable beats for that matter within twenty-five minutes.

All in all, SUPER disappointing. I did find "Final Scan", the last hard-to-find disc of his I needed while browsing in the shopping hall though.

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Suicide Commando