LOUD AS GIANTS REVIEWS

ECHOES AND DUST REVIEW :
“A mere fourteen years after their first full collaborative release, Dirk Serries and Justin K Broadrick have finally come together to form a “band”, under the guise Loud As Giants. By their own admission, they are not looking to reinvent the wheel with Empty Homes, more pay homage to the music they grew up loving. To call it a vanity project seems overly harsh, and this dose of friendly self-indulgence will be hugely welcomed by many.

It very quickly becomes clear that this is quite a departure from their previous offerings, starting most obviously with the presence of drums (of the machine variety, of course). From the Broadrick side, he slips into the celestial musings of Jesu. These drape over a backdrop of Serries’ lush looped drones as the aforementioned percussion drives each track forward with a slight nod towards the motorik pulsing of krautrock.

There is an ease with which these two amble through the 46 and a half minutes of Empty Homes. The whole record is somewhat unhurried, the sense of comfort infused within the music undeniable. From the 80s-tinged electronics of the opening track ‘Monument’, through to the ambient swirls of the final ‘Isolation’, every element they draw in fits so snuggly.

Already, Loud As Giants seems like it has been around for years. The familiarity of the music, albeit separate until now, is both a blessing and a curse: the opportunity feels missed for two of the leading exponents in the scene to create something truly unique and special, an album that could transcend what either has done individually. Yet Empty Homes is still a magical ride, deftly sliding into old favourite territory.”

DAMUSIC REVIEW :
“Als je de namen Justin K. Broadrick en Dirk Serries ziet opduiken, weet je dat je je niet moet verwachten aan doorsnee drieminutenpopsongs. Dat is met Loud As Giants niet anders.

Dat de twee elkaar (terug)vonden is zo gek nog niet. Ze kennen elkaar al lang genoeg, van toen de ene nog als Fear Falls Burning door het muzikale leven ging en in het voorprogramma van de andere, toen als Jesu, speelde. Nu wilden ze de gedeelde liefde voor bepaalde genres uit de eighties op muziek zetten.

Vier tracks van elk rond de tien minuten. Geen enkele stem, geen solo’s, geen refreinen en strofes. Sfeer is waar het hier om draait. En de wazige, nachtelijke foto op de cover van het album geeft al een indicatie van wat voor sfeer u mag verwachten. De pandemie, die we net zijn doorgeworsteld, was de ideale voedingsbodem voor de donkere soundscapes, die u aangeboden krijgt.

Het principe is eenvoudig en toch zo efficiënt. Elke song krijgt een ritmiek opgelegd in een (elektronisch) drumpatroon, waarover de twee protagonisten de gitaren breed uitsmeren in een waas van uiteraard eveneens door gitaren gecreëerde ruis. Repetitie is de sleutel, waarmee de songs worden ontsloten. En trance is het resultaat. Je kan dit op eindeloze repeat zetten en het toch niet beu worden.

Soms herken je gitaren effectief als gitaren. Zoals aan het einde van opener Monument, wanneer het instrument even boven de modderige waters uit komt. Maar meestal wordt het snaarinstrument gedrenkt in een overdosis effecten en toch stoort dat niet. Net daar zit hem de kracht van deze plaat. Je wordt erdoor meegesleept zonder echt te kunnen verklaren waarom.

Estranged is donkerder, al is het maar omdat enkel de kickdrum wordt gebruikt, waarover ronkende gitaren de mist van distortie doorklieven. En dan is er nog het ontwrichtende Room 3, waarin de gitaren ongestoord verder ruisen over een lichte lading elektronica tot ze vervagen tot een lichte nevel, die uiteindelijk ook optrekt en enkel de dreunende bastoon overlaat.

“I love isolation, but only when chosen by me”, legt Broadrick uit en het laatste nummer moet dat nog onderstrepen. Er hangt een postpunkerige nevel over deze track, die door de elektronische, stuiterende drums wordt verstoord tot de gitaren het weer overnemen met in de rug nog meer hoppende elektronica. Het maakt van het nummer onze favoriet van vier stukken, die elk een heel eigen karakter hebben.

Het is duidelijk dat in Loud As Giants Serries en Broadrick elkaar aanvullen met een plaat, die op je adem pakt, als resultaat.”

LUMINOUS DASH REVIEW :
“Zo’n dertien jaar geleden werkten Dirk Serries en Justin K. Broadrick al eens samen, toen als Fear Falls Burning en Final, het eerste een project van Serries, het andere van Broadrick. Die laatste kennen we uiteraard als de bezieler van Godflesh maar onder meer ook als Jesu.

Met Jesu en Final betreedt Broadrick het meer experimentele pad. Donkere ambient en drones met een sporadische beat. Een hernieuwde samenwerking met Serries (onder meer Vidna Obmana), die een al even grote duizendpoot is als Broadrick en ook met een immens oeuvre op zijn naam staat onder diverse aliassen, kon aldus niet uitblijven.

Beide muzikanten hebben uiteraard een drukke agenda, mede door tal van projecten waar ze zich mee inlaten. Het juiste ogenblik vinden, er eens goed voor gaan zitten en dan uit de losse pols een aantal intrigerende soundscapes in elkaar zetten, daar komt het een beetje op neer.

Deze keer wordt het album en de samenwerking niet als vanuit twee aparte entiteiten gepresenteerd, maar als een band: Loud As Giants. Luid zal het zeker zijn als deze twee deze nummers live zullen brengen. Broadrick is geen man voor de zachte hand en Serries, die tegenwoordig regelmatig aan verstilling doet, houdt er wel van om eens alles los te laten en volop voor het steviger werk te gaan.

In de vier lange stukken zijn beider invloeden goed hoorbaar. Serries dronet er lekker op los terwijl Broadrick met diepe basgeluiden en andere tierlantijnen de boel opfleurt. De insteek: isolatie, de leegheid van de stad in de nacht, lege huizen (iedereen slaapt of is weg) en het in vraag stellen van de kleine ruimte waar we elke dag onze tijd in passeren. Deze ideeën vormen de achterliggende gedachte bij het project Loud As Giants.

Beiden voelen elkaar heel goed aan. Ze kennen elkaar dan ook al sinds Fear Falls Burning eens de support deed van Jesu, decennia geleden. Maar ook daarvoor hadden beiden al veel respect voor elkaars werk toen ze beiden apart veel nummers bijdroegen aan allerlei cassettes in de tijd van tape-trading. Dat is duidelijk te merken aan de coherentie van deze plaat.

Slepende en gevarieerde drones die prima werken in het avondlicht of op momenten voor de vroege vogels het heft weer in handen nemen.”

IYEZINE REVIEW :
“Loud As Giants sono una coppia di musicisti di cui basta il nome per capire che la materia trattata è di alta qualità : Justin K. Broadrick e Dirk Serries.

L’inglese Broadrick è rimasto coinvolto in progetti quali i i Godflesh, Napalm Death, Jesu, Techno Animal ( uno dei suoi dischi di avanguardia più ardita), per non citarli tutti. Il belga Dirk Serries è un’esploratore sonoro, dedito ad ambient e drone perlopiù, ma senza disdegnare altri ambiti, ha realizzato molti lavori a nome vidnaObmana, e ha collaborato con molti nomi fra i quali lo stesso Broadrick, Steven Wilson, Justin K. Broadrick, Cult Of Lunar e Steve Roach, e possiede una cultura musicale davvero ampia, come è ampia la sua visione sonora. Broadrick e Serries si erano conosciuti quando il belga come Fear Falls Burning aveva supportato gli Jesu.

I due avevano già in mente di tornare a collaborare insieme facendo un disco che potesse contenere la loro passione verso la musica anni ottanta, quella con cui sono cresciuti e con la quale hanno capito che il suono sarebbe stato il loro futuro. E i due con “Empty homes” in uscita per Consouling Sounds hanno fatto molto di più, dando vita ad un suono nuovo : siamo dalle parti del drone ambient ma con bellissimi intarsi anni ottanta, come se i synth degli ottanta si fossero persi nelle nebbie di una catastrofe nucleare, o ancora peggio, nel sole pallido di un mattino come tutti gli altri.

I Loud As Giants elevano un muro del suono notevole che ha al suo interno mille intarsi, partendo da una radiazione di fondo sulla quale si estendono sintetizzatori o giri drone di chitarra, ma è sempre un sottofondo di sintetizzatori che puntella il tutto, ora scomparendo, ora riapparendo in fondo alla strada come la macchina assassina senza conducente.

Il disco ha una musicalità non conforme, né comune, agisce per vie traverse, in alcuni passaggi è illuminante come i primi minuti di “Room three”, ogni canzone possiede gli stessi elementi che ricombinati danno sempre soluzioni diverse, soprattutto grazie alla bravura dei due musicisti che hanno un terzo orecchio che capta frequenze che gli altri umani non percepiscono.

Ascoltare “ Empty homes” è come attraversare mille stanze di mille case, passando in una nebbia che contiene le esistenze di tutti quelli che hanno vissuto in quelle stanze, perché le case sono a volte luoghi spaventosi, pregni delle paure e delle gioie di chi ci è passato prima di noi, e non è facile. Tutto ciò, e molto altro, è dentro questo disco che ha un tempo ed un ritmo tutto suo, con moltissime cose tipiche di Broadrick, di ciò che lo rende un musicista unico ed irripetibile, un minimo comune denominatore di musiche fantastiche che continuano a stupire ad ogni disco.

Serries compie un grandissimo lavoro con giri di chitarra che sembrano provenire direttamente dal cielo, e musicalmente è un’anima gemella di Broadrick, con il quale si capiscono al volo e ci regalano questo capolavoro. “Empty homes” è un sogno, un cadere all’indietro nel tempo, con solidissime radici nell’anima synth degli anni ottanta, dalle quali si parte per rielaborare il tutto e trovare una nuova via attraverso quattro sinfonie che hanno un ritmo ed un tempo tutto loro, qui è un’altra dimensione.

Il disco è da assaporare e meditare, con quei battiti quasi techno salmodiati qui è là, quelle aperture magnifiche ed un magmatismo costante.”

THE SLEEPING SHAMAN REVIEW :
“Homes fascinate me; the rooms we dwell in and spend our existences in, I can’t quite compute it nor articulate it, but I feel it’s all full of loss and emptiness…’ – Justin K Broadrick.

Another month and another new release from the ever-restless mind of Godflesh and Jesu ringmaster Justin K Broadrick in the form of the Loud As Giants debut Empty Homes.

The project itself is the collaboration between the inimitable Broadrick and long-time friend, Belgium composer Dirk Serries who has released a huge swath of dark ambient music dating back to the early eighties and is possibly best known for his work under the Fear Falls Burning moniker.

For those unfamiliar with Fear Falls Burning, Serries sought to carve out minimalist meditations on purity and subdued power through a combination of percussive elements and an expansive array of studio tools and instruments to craft expansive drones. It is this symbiosis that drew the two artists to a mutual appreciation of each other’s work that led them to tour (Fear Falls Burning supporting Jesu) and release the avant-garde Final + Fear Fall Burning album in 2009

Some thirteen years after their last project together, Loud As Giants finally emerges from the back burner to try and convey a whimsical feeling of nostalgia for their fascination with the ‘80s culture they both grew up in. Backdropped by the pandemic and the modern-age notion of isolation, there is a strange detached sense of disquiet that drives the heart of this mesmerizing project that doesn’t seek to dramatically revolutionize music, or even break new ground, as it often feels like a quiet, aimless drive through places you once knew.

Comprising of just four instrumental tracks that make up the forty-six-minute running time, each offering is a movement in and of itself that works alongside the other pieces, not to generate any stand-out moments, but to weave and interplay as they conjure the overarching narrative the duo seeks to tell.

The first of these, Monument, begins tentatively as an almost underlying hum that grows into indie light guitar and pulsing drums that capture a feeling of space and light, like the sun breaking over the horizon in the morning, or an empty road lit by streetlights. Both of these images have been cited as scenes that conjure an emptiness and a sense of despair in the eyes of Broadrick. The swirling atmospherics advance the music at a granular level of progression as in his work with Jesu, focusing on how the music makes you feel, rather than looking to grab your attention with a scything hook. The seemingly meandering passages give your mind the chance to wander and surrender to memories.

Estranged taps into the feeling of alienation with a harder and darker industrial edge; as the harsher synths and ominous, urgent drum patter give way to more cavernous ringing that generates a feeling of being very small in a larger world. In comparison to the first track, Estranged feels distinctly urban and claustrophobic in the same way that the futuristic scenes of Blade Runner reek of a crumbling decay under the surface despite the technology before your eyes. It is all at once alien, alienating, and unsettling as it ends with the finality of a cassette-like switch-off.

Broadrick and Serries have become masters at enveloping their listeners in dense walls of sound…

Room Three seeks to redress the balance, calling back to the rich guitar tones of the opener whilst the electronic dub percussion shuffles and thumps underneath like the world is waking and speeding up around you. No less focused and personal, Broadrick and Serries weave textures, slowly introducing sonic variations through the music that can often invoke, depending on your mood, different emotions.

The final moments linger on as the fuller sounds of the piece are stripped away leaving you once again in drifting contemplation, the feeling of loneliness apparent after the swell of the fuller sounds.

As the sci-fi film score-like sounds rise and swell on the final offering Isolation with fleeting beats and recirculating drones, it is easy to view Empty Homes as a conceptual piece of art. At times it appears cold, like the absence of comfort after recalling a memory of previous times, but also the sense that life around you has moved on.

Broadrick, when commenting on the inspiration behind the project, talked of embracing isolation when it is chosen, not forced. In this day of scattered family, remote working, and an ever-divided world, these instances become thrust upon us, but conversely, with the ever-present technology that keeps us connected, the chance and choice to get away and meditate in the stillness can be equally good for the soul.

This is very much a project concerned with the aesthetic principles on which it was founded and one that has been considered through the choices made in composition. Both Broadrick and Serries have become masters at enveloping their listeners in dense walls of sound, whether they are as light as air or thunderous in delivery, and here they capture the very real sense of emptiness, isolation, and nostalgia without it ever becoming an oppressive chore.

For all the downtrodden descriptions and appearance of ideas Loud As Giants found as inspiration, there is a gossamer-light touch and undeniable beauty to what they have captured that doesn’t demand of their audience, it simply invites you into the stillness to take from it what you will.”

AT THE BARRIER REVIEW :
“Loud As Giants is Justin K. Broadrick and Dirk Serries – “our collaboration not to invent new music but just to bring together the music we grew up with, were/are inspired by and we just like to do ourselves,” says Dirk. They’ve also referred to Empty Homes as a trip down memory lane as they head back into the mists of times to reboot their mutual fascination for 80s culture and the genres that influenced and shaped their formative years.

However, don’t worry about any stereotypical 80s fashion faux pas or an emphasis on synthetic sounds and heavily processed drums. Four ten-minute-plus pieces of experimental, post-rock drones and ambiance bring those 80s influences into a contemporary setting and create an immersive experience. Monuments is probably worth the admission price alone. An ominous pounding beat provides the platform on which to create swirls and swathes of hypnotic cadences. Easy to see how the arrangement can create an entrancing journey.

Estranged takes a more slow build approach. Almost four minutes of distant industrial atmosphere finally gives way to another pulse that’s barely detectable beneath some grinding chords. Again, distance and space is paramount, cinematic in the sense that the piece soundtracks something imminent, a sense of suspense. Room Three sees a cyclical pattern build as some shiny metallic ambience and busy skittering get treated to the regular punctuation of a synthesized pulse before it outstays its welcome. Visually, it evokes the waves of a tide that rolls in as far as it can go before ebbing and retreating back – or, should you wish, the ominous rumble of some portent of natural disaster. Consoling sounds – you can see where the record label helps!

Isolation – as claustrophobic as the title – brings things to a conclusion. Again, a jungle of dense and bass drones concludes with hints of the ring of She Sells Sanctuary making the ears prick up right at the finale. A project that has been in the pipeline for years, due to conflicting schedules and their prolific careers, a fully deserved release.”

GRIND ON THE ROAD REVIEW :
“Loud As Giants è il nuovo progetto di Justin K. Broadrick dei Godflesh, figura imprescindibile per chi, come me, è nato musicalmente sotto l’ala protettiva della Earache Records, etichetta che a cavallo tra gli Ottanta e i Novanta ha rivoluzionato il concetto di estremismo in musica. In attesa del nuovo album dei Godflesh, previsto per l’inizio di giugno, ecco arrivare il debutto per questa sua ennesima creazione, in coppia con Dirk Serries. Liaison che sublima il loro rapporto, nato negli anni Ottanta quando, entrambi agli esordi in ambito sonoro, furono tra i primissimi a scambiarsi materiale in cassetta in ambito industrial noise e sperimentale. Dopo decenni di reciproca stima hanno deciso, grazie anche alla sosta imposta dalla pandemia, di dare vita a un qualcosa che potesse concretizzare il loro rapporto a distanza.

Loop armonici ridotti a pochissime note per un approccio che nonostante il cambio di sonorità, decisamente meno industrial rispetto al passato di Broadrick, mantiene comunque una certa assonanza con la paranoica ripetitività, quasi ossessiva dei Godflesh dei tempi migliori. Ad arricchire il tutto, il tocco dark ambient di Serries che smorza la tensione claustrofobica del compare britannico. Si tratta di due musicisti decisamente versatili, che qui hanno scelto di mettersi uno al servizio dell’altro, con fine di realizzare un qualcosa che potesse suonare “diverso” pur mantenendo chiare le origini e l’approccio di entrambi. Lo hanno infatti definito come una sorta di “viaggio della memoria”, con cui ritrovare quelle sonorità degli anni Ottanta con cui sono cresciuti, oltre che un tributo a quelle che sono stati le loro influenze giovanili.

Empty Homes è un qualcosa che era in fermentazione da tempo, ma che solo ora ha preso la sua forma definitiva, unendo le due idiosincratiche figure che non hanno mai nascosto la propria sociopatia, fatta di situazioni ai margini della frenetica e confusionaria vita di città sovraffollate. La colonna sonora ideale per tutti noi che abbiamo scelto di autoemarginarci.”

VITAL WEEKLY REVIEW :
“One of the things about Loud As Giants is, oddly perhaps, that it isn’t that loud, or, to be more precise, not that loud all the time. Behind this name is the duo of Dirk Serries and Justin K. Broadrick. They
both have a long and richly varied musical history. They worked together before, thirteen years ago, to be precise, using their monikers, Final (Broadrick) and Fears Falls Burning (Serries’ guitar project from back then). I don’t think I heard that one. There wasn’t a follow-up because of the usual busyness on both sides. The pandemic made it possible to work again, and maybe we should think of the title as something related to that. Broadrick likes isolation, but only if he can choose to be isolated. Well, don’t we all? I assume through the exchange of sound files, these two men worked on an album that sounds very coherent. They could have been in one room and still sounded as coherent. The loudness is an option here, or at least, that’s how I like to see these things. Sure, you can turn up the volume and be all-immersed in the music, but that’s not my style. I like immersion as much as the next person but I like my ears to last. Plus, sometimes, I like to think that the devil is in
the details. By not going all the volume-way, I think (!) I can detect a few more details. Broadrick and Serries play the electric guitar, and there are some electronic drums. The interest lies within the minimalist approach to guitar drones. A rockist sound such as it is, and that is mainly due to the hammering of the slightly distorted drum machines, I should think. The guitars get strummed, chords (I think, as I have never understood the mechanics of guitar playing), I reckon, and not (e-) bowed, even when in ‘Estranged’, there is a nagging organ-like sound too. There is some intense music to be enjoyed here, loud or less loud, but it is music rich in details and depth, hammering away but always shifting around, never too long in a stasis. Just the way we like them. Now the pandemic has moved away, it would be interesting to see these things on a big stage, as by the time the music was over, I was kinda curious to hear this live (I admit I turnd the volume up); or should that be: as intended?”

SALT PEANUTS REVIEW :
“Belgian experimental guitarist Dirk Serries and British singer-songwriter-guitarist-sound artist  Justin K. Broadrick (founder of the experimental metal bands Godflesh and Jesu) are adventurous sound explorers who are in sync since the early eighties when they both were active in the underground cassette network, individually producing experimental, industrial, and noise music. They worked together in the last decade when Broadrick did the remixes for Serries’ ambient project Vidna Obmana, and reconstructions for Serries Continuum project and collaborated in Serries’ Microphonics and Fear Falls Burning projects. But their duo project under the moniker Loud As Giants is more like ‘a trip down memory lane’, symbolizing their mutual fascination for the 80’s culture in which they grew up and all the relevant and groundbreaking genres Serries and Broadrick were influenced by. Empty Homes is informed by the Covid-19 pandemic isolation and the global nostalgia of that time. It features four dark and mostly dramatic, ambient soundscapes that meet drones, layered and looped with noisy and distorted, industrial sounds and heavy, tribal pulses. These hypnotic and addictive, sometimes play with atmospheric, techno-like beats («Room Three»), other times with unsettling, dense and urban massive walls of sounds («Estranged») or with cinematic, suggestive and comforting images («Isolation») relating to the images of empty homes, as far as possible from the busy centers of big cities and overcrowded streets, and Broadrick claims that all these pieces are «full of loss and emptiness». And suppose we borrow an immortal saying of the Chinese Daoist sage Lau Tzu (already used in the album of Jesu and Serries, Resolution Heart, Toneafloat, 2016). In that case, Series and Broadrick are kindred spirits that “move in utter emptiness. let their minds meander in the great nothingness»”

GHOSTCULT MAG REVIEW :
“While it is somewhat disingenuous and sneaky to include Loud As Giants Empty Homes (Consouling Sounds) in an EP’s round-up, it is only four songs, even if the shortest of these tickles the eleven-minute mark. It is also far too good and interesting a release to sit idly by without a home to recommend it on these hallowed pages.

A predominantly minimalist combination of post-rock, electronics, drone, and beats, this forty-five-minute collaboration of Justin Broadrick (Godflesh / Jesu et al) and Dirk Serries (Fear Falls Burning) manages to be both immersive soundtrack, comforting background, and challenging thought-provoker all at once. Never rushing, never forced, each of the four songs establishes and expands on a feeling and a slightly different theme to its companion pieces, like four episodes of a series that, although linked, doesn’t have an overriding story arc.

Opening and closing pieces (‘Monument’ and ‘Isolation’ respectively) are the less intrusive moments, ‘Estranged’ builds with ominous intent without ever giving way to full horror, and ‘Room Three’ perhaps gives off the greatest set of urgency and unsettlement. With a concept involving the feelings and emotions of different rooms in empty houses, and musically being a vehicle for Serries and Broadrick to collaborate on the type of music they grew up with, the reflective and patient nature of Loud As Giants’ music is both entrancing and inviting.”