Foetus

and was, at best, only “good” and, at worst, despised. It featured a few highlights in the industrial-rock “Verklemmt” and in the noise of “Take It Outside Godboy”. “Gash” was just so unfortunately mediocre for Foetus-lovers.

A follow-up EP “Null” was promotionally released by Colombia, but was abandoned never saw the light of day until released with its companion EP “Void”, collecting pre-“Gash” compilation tracks and remixes, some years later.

And all became very quiet from Thirlwell. He worked for MTV, amongst others, doing production work and commercial compositions. He occasionally collaborated with friends and contemporaries…

After five years of fermentation, 2001 has seen the release of “Flow” (to be soon followed by the remix EP “Blow”), a return to the ways of the old Foetus style.

Fitting in well as the perfect bridge between the styles of “Nail” and “Thaw”, but with “Gash”-level production value, “Flow” is a return to what was missing about Foetus. Brimming with the underlying coldness of “Thaw” in tracks like “Kreibabe”, making the style of “Gash” more palatable in tracks like “Mandelay”, reviving the evil-swing of Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel in tracks like “Heuldoch 7B” and “Grace Of God”, and even adding industrial-rock songs like “The Need Machine” and “Quick Fix” to his repartee. By far, the most inventive and enjoyable album of the past year, “Flow” begs to be listened to. Never so much one particular genre as to become boring, it keeps the listener intrigued.

The accompanying tour over this summer was something that had to be seen. If you missed Foetus in your local area, you should be ashamed. Reviving old favorites, playing old songs for the first time ever, as well as plenty of new tracks, this tour was the most gratifying, enjoyable, and exciting that Foetus has offered in over 10 years. The set was amazing, the live versions only added to the original, and Thirlwell punctuated old favorites with new styles.

Jim Thirlwell may be going on 40, but his music has yet to show any signs of age or wear. He still takes a variety of disparate styles and images and builds them into an amazing engine of musical destruction. Thirlwell still offers another generation of musical listeners the chance to see and hear something totally new and original, fun, and intelligent, something that we are severely lacking in music today.

Jim Thirlwell may be our salvation, after all.

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