Fudge Tunnel

The Complicated Futility of Ignorance (Earache)
by Paul Lee

Brutal, ugly and twisted are the words for British spawned Fudge Tunnel‘s new terror entitled The Complicated Futility of Ignorance (Earache). Three albums after their debut, FT have honed their maniacal sound. It’s astounding to think that just a trio of psychos can create this much noise and do it so adeptly. They’re a primal force to be reckoned with (or reviled by mainstream lamos).

FT is not a band to be blamed for being diverse. Their sound often comes close to rubbing your face in broken glass and rarely gets any lighter than the sonic equivalent o f driving a nail through your hand. The power they emit is unsettling. There isn’t a death metal act on the earth that FT couldn’t rival in intensity and sheer force of ear assault. When I first encountered their tormented cover of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” in 1990 (from Hate in F Minor), I had a feeling that FT would surely amount to something. They’ve learned a lot from the brutality of hardcore, the sonic tricks and moshes of thrash and the noise of the pots and pans they probably destroyed as kids.

The Complicated Futility of Ignorance doesn’t slacken its ferocious pace for a moment. Sweet little ditties like “Random Acts of Cruelty” and “Cover Up” roar at uncivilized speed. Alex Newport unleashes his guitar and vocal roars while using effective guitar chord variations, crafty use of distortion, feedback and harmonic tricks. Dave Ryley’s bass pounding is very present in the mix with facial crushing power that keeps the foundation of FT’s pounding pace. Adrian Parkin’s drum battering is all over the kit, bringing the mayhem to its blood vessel-bursting pace.
As one of the most brutal bands of the day (with the most visual name), Fudge Tunnel is not for the squeamish or those with heart conditions. Listen at your own risk.