ALBUM REVIEW: Severance – Netherlands

Progressive sludge duo NETHERLANDS have been around the grimy block more than once – in fact, Severance is the ninth album by New Yorkers Timo Ellis and David Keith. With the likes of GOJIRA’s Joe Duplantier and MASTODON’s Bill Kelliher amongst their fans, this is a band that have proven themselves time and time again with their personality-driven heaviness, and so it is time once again to dive into the world of NETHERLANDS.

There’s no bones about it, Severance is a strange album. NETHERLANDS have always been a band to push the bounds of noise into the avant garde and high art territories, and this time around they’ve written 10 tracks about “the urgent need to return to values, traditions, and rituals that restore our connection with the Earth, all of its creatures, and ourselves.” Lofty, weighty subjects like these are never going to be easily dispelled into a collection of four-minute songs that shoot straight from the hip. So instead, NETHERLANDS employ myriad tropes from a smorgasbord of subgenres and sounds; from the stoner desert rock riffs of Omisha to the electropunk clamor of Glow Stick, this is a constantly moving and dizzying beast.

Unfortunately though, this all spells madness that borders on the unpalatable, particularly in the back half of Severance. Whether it’s the bothersome opening song Sicarrivallo which sounds like an edgy teen trying to scare his peers, or the baffling Silencio which seems to combine lounge jazz with Sims menu music for a dreary slice of lo-fi art pop, there are moments when you are left wondering ‘…but why?’ Most egregious of all is Goons, which sounds like NINE INCH NAILS performing an OFFSPRING song. A bizarre amalgam of industrial din and off-kilter punky vocals, but laced with a falsetto break that’ll have every dog in your neighbourhood losing their minds.

To Severance’s credit, there are some brighter moments: Swimming Dog gets heads banging and veers teasingly close to that promised prog sludge realm, while Animal Insults dials up the pace and intensity and uses pulsating bass synths to make you feel like you’re in Blade Runner’s version of Los Angeles. But it’s album closer Celia’s Mansion that gives Severance it’s most human moment. “When you’re young, you don’t know that you don’t know things” Ellis croons, before their trademark scuzzy dirge rains back down on the track with fury and melancholy. Probably the most straight-ahead track on this album, there is a distinct journey from start to finish, and although it could do without the 30+ seconds of space age bleep-bloops right at the end, it does lend the album a clear closing passage.

The production too deserves a brief shout out; handled by the ever-splendid Kurt Ballou at his hallowed God City Studio, the many elements each sound rich and full-bodied, however they may have been smashed together. It is a tremendous sounding album at its core from the thunderous drums and crunching guitar to the sparse keys and atmospheric synths.

Overall though, Severance is a confused and confusing mess. Unfocused and erratic throughout, there’s little cohesion or flow to this album and even in NETHERLANDS’ storied history, this feels like a dud outlier. Perhaps severance is the best course of action here.

Rating: 4/10

Severance is out now via Svart Records.

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