Avant-ish guitar rock noise from Bulbul on their Silence! (ROCK IS HELL RIP104) release…this Austrian combo have been going since 1996 and have released a respectable number of albums for Trost, Rock is Hell, Siluh Records, and others, but we sadly haven’t encountered their work outside of their appearance on a stray comp/sampler thing called Supernova 2, where they shared CD real-estate with fellow rockers Peachpit and the Emperor of Japnoise, Merzbow. Manfred Engelmayr (guitar) might the “main man” who rules the roost with his iron claw, joined here by Roland Rthmair (bass) and Dieter Kern (drums). The band used to be a solo vehicle for Engelmayr.
Today’s release is pressed in heavy white vinyl inside a scrumptious abstract sleeve decorated with harsh marks by Inga Hehn in black, plus for extra gimmick jollity there’s one extra track on a seven-inch which is embedded directly into the front of the gatefold. And while the press release may invoke John Cage, I see no evidence that the works of that composer are currently preoccupying the minds of our three creators. What strikes me about these recordings is how restrained, brittle, and poised the music is, with barely an ounce of the zeal or passion you might find in the music of American stoner rock or extreme metallists that clearly inspire our Austrian buddies. It’s like an intellectualised, quasi-philosophical rethink of music in a post-modern rock vein, all instrumental, with plenty of gaps, forced tension, and only occasionally leavened by slightly-odd sounds, treatments, and effects; the trio never break into a sweat or exceed permitted volume levels, let alone “rock out”. I don’t hate it, but on the strength of this Bulbul are nowhere near as “unconventional, trippy, and deranged” as they’d like us to think; the few press photos I’m able to find show the threesome projecting a mildly wacky, cod-surreal vibe. (30/03/2023)