After infesting us with a swarm of limited-run cassettes, splits, and 7" EP's, Bone Awl has finally arrived with their first full length album,

Meaningless Leaning Mess, a shredded collection of 17 songs in the vein of the Not for Our Feet and Up To Something cassette

tapes. Part of our (and many others) infatuation with this enigmatic California duo is the way that they have stripped down black metal to a molten,

minimalist punk core, a blasting atmospheric noize assault matched with strange existential lyrics utterly unlike anything else in black metal; drummer and

guitarist He Who Gnashes Teeth and He Who Crushes Teeth rip through crude, rusted-out husks of simplistic blackened thrash, every song built from only one or

two basic crusty riffs and screeching distorted vocals, but bashed out over and over with a focused repetitive force over a primitive and furious midtempo

drumming that sets in like a trance. The instruments, hell, the entire production is swamped in white noise hiss, the recording pushed into the red,

super distorted and noisy, giving this an extremely gritty, skuzzy vibe closer to bands like Rusted Shut and Brainbombs than anything typical to black metal,

like a blasted, blazed noise rock mutation of Venom and Discharge. The statement on the inside of the record's enormous poster sleeve is great, giving a

clear idea of where this music is coming from: "BONE AWL would like to thank the world that bends and creaks, it's swaying spines, it's unlimited

precariousness, and it's little winks, letting us always know the joke is on us." Awesome. The aforementioned poster sleeve is amazing looking, a stark,

creepy looking collage of pasted-together cathedrals teetering at insane angles like something out of a Lovecraft story, alongside faceless scarecrows and

puppets, bizarre word play, and strange quotes. Kinda reminds me of Rudimentary Peni's artwork but it's far more esoteric and mysterious looking. Another amazing, haunting blast from the Awl. This is the newer repress of the LP, pressed on heavywieght black vinyl and housed in a printed inner sleeve and chipboard jacket instead of the 6-panel foldout poster that made up the original packaging.