Over the past decade and a half Endon has emerged as one of the more interesting Japanese groups out there, bringing together elements of noise rock, grind, punk, black metal, and straight-up noise in frantic and unpredictable ways. Considering how many of Japan’s exports already had something unique to say when it came to more extreme music, Endon’s still managed to stand on their own and each full length has brought something different to the table. A lot has changed since 2018’s Boy Meets Girl, as drummer Shin Yokota departed and Etsuo Nagura tragically passed away in 2020. With this in mind, the newly configured trio has chosen to move forward and explore their chaotic maelstrom of sound in a completely new way with Fall of Spring. With an emphasis on droning build-ups, sheer walls of noise, and tortured vocals that seem to ebb and flow with the layers of sound, this is not an easy listen from a band that already had a lot of barriers to entry. But those that can appreciate the nuances of this type of extremity and electronic manipulation will find this effort keeps drawing them back, showcasing just as much emotion and power as any metal or punk adjacent effort.
In a lot of the Japanese media I’ve seen over the years, spring often represents a new beginning or rebirth. Given the changes Endon has gone through as a band, titling this new album Fall of Spring suggests that you as the listener are in for the opposite, heading towards much darker territory. It doesn’t immediately give away where things are headed at first, as opener “Prelude for the Hollow” spends its first few minutes letting sparser noise and metallic clanging drive things forward as almost angelic chanting/singing flutters over top of it. But as the track moves towards the halfway point the layers of noise begin to build, taking the somewhat serene and what could be described as the everyday pulse of background sounds in a city and distorting them into more twisted and nightmarish forms. If this album represents Endon processing their grief and the change around them, this opener feels like the sense of numbness and calm before the storm one experiences before all the other emotions set in and foreshadows just how harsh things are about to get.
When I was a young child, I had a recurring dream where I was falling through a burning building in complete darkness while unknown music played in the background. It was never clear if there was a bottom to this building or if it was just an endless void, and this is exactly how I felt as “Hit Me” kicked in. As the layers ebb and flow with a churning rhythm and rebuild into even noisier soundscapes, it’s never clear just where the beginning and the end are as the wall of sound kicks you back and forth. I hadn’t remembered this dream for at least three decades, but after some extended time with Fall of Spring it came back vividly and is part of what’s made Endon’s latest so compelling. I hesitate to use the word “enjoyable”, as it genuinely hurts in some parts with the pitch of the noise and the frequencies are using, but “Hit Me” delivers an ever-shifting and nightmarish dose of power electronics, noise, and death industrial that remind me of a cross between The Body and Trepaneringsritualen while still having unique qualities. The vocals keep things on the harsh and tortured side, with the screams sometimes coming through crystal clear and other times sounding as though they’re drowning in the instrumentation. But as intense as this track is, there are still even more intense things to come.
“Time Does Not Heal” and the very appropriately titled “Escalation” is where this album has its strongest impact. The former covers a lot of ground over its almost six-minute run, giving off a tense and horror soundtrack feel as its deep bass pulses tear at your speakers and screams echo off in the distance. The way the electronics move at a faster, frenetic pace made me think of the type of rapid thinking and gamut of emotions one experiences during those early stages of loss, and each time through this track additional layers came to light that weren’t clear initially. “Escalation” represents the rawest flow of emotion Endon has for listeners, as it spends almost its entire thirteen minutes assaulting you with layers of noise that only seem to get harsher and more ear piercing with every passing second. Compared to the other tracks, the first half seems a bit more freeform as the noise is manipulated, but just as you think it’s reaching a peak there’s a bass drop around the seven-and-a-half-minute mark that whips things up into a hellish electronica frenzy. The vocals retain their tortured screams and wails the entire time, and the way that this song builds makes for one of the most intense pieces of music I’ve heard in any genre this year.
Fall of Spring has taken me a good deal of time to parse through, as it’s outwardly abrasive and is likely to be too noisy and ear splitting for some people to handle, even those that spent time with Endon’s previous material. But as someone that’s listened to quite a bit of noise, power electronics, and everything in between over the year, the way the trio brings it together here has real weight and impact without it coming across as meandering. It’s a bit more approachable than the average Merzbow release, but one that will break your brain at certain points even as it compels you to come back for more. There are a few sections that drag slightly, but there’s not much else to complain about what this current incarnation of Endon has come up with and seeing how much raw emotion they’ve spilled into this album I’ll be very interested to hear what comes next. Fall of Spring is available from Thrill Jockey Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg