24 years since Heldon made a “comeback” record, the highly enjoyable sprawl Only Chaos Is Real, and since then there’s been an unfailing supply of Richard Pinhas solo or collaborative records – including notably with Merzbow, Pascal Comelade, various Japanese latterday psychedelic types, and even Oren Ambarchi. I think he’s been on record with RG Rough before, but the details escape me. End Of The Line (BAM BALAM BBCD099) is another rewarding record of endless guitar space rock spun out into a “cosmic” infinity with the help of gigantic echo devices and other studio props, and of course the tireless skills of Pinhas himself. He seems to out-sustain even his chosen heroes these days – Fripp has long since waved the white flag.
With guest drummer Ren Karlmann and Rough credited with “other machines”, and probably edited together in the studio from numerous takes and sessions in the tradition of Pink Floyd, who took much longer over it and still ended up with pompous, boring, emptiness. End Of The Line is indeed a Euro-synth rack journey by super-powered Metro train into the worlds beyond, with many diversions into invisible and menacing dimensions as we pass over one “event horizon” to the next… (02/04/2024)