The Thing - Shake [The Thing Records / Trost Records Promo]

Released back in October 2015 via their own label The Thing Records is The Thing's latest album named "Shake",  a seven track exploration of aggressive, angry and surely also Punk / PostPunk-influenced FreeJazz and Improv madness but also a journey into deeper, yet not meek or gentle spheres of the genres spectrum where hypercomplex drum structures meets sax workouts partly reminiscent of Detroit's legendary Tribe, albeit these are not necessarily that laid back as motor city's finest. Besides that The Thing obviously know how to get funky as "The Nail Will Burn" perfectly showcases, and so does the matured, double bass-led Jazz Noir affair "Sigill". The thirteen+ minutes of "Aim" are as looming yet yearning as things can get and therefore serving a well-fascinating contrast of tempers that evolves into something more cacophonic but not less thrilling or epic throughout the tunes full runtime whilst the swinging "Bota Fogo" evokes memories of twisted AfroFunk polyrhythms and the final cut "Fra Jord Er Du Kommet" seems to emulate sounds of broken church bells or ritualistic gongs covered with droney layers of baritone saxophones to a calming but not necessarily relaxing effect that might also apply to fans of the Star Wars epos for a reason we won't unveil here. Quite a fascinating ride, this is for sure.