Australia’s Grey Daturas have been kicking around since 2001, having already released splits with noise notables Yellow Swans (Copper/Silver 2xCD-R) and Wolf Eyes (The Black Plague). On the heels of last year’s re-release of Dead in the Woods, their awesome 2004 full-length, comes Return to Disruption. Comparisons have already been made between the group and Matthew Bower’s formidable Skullflower. Although the resemblances are certainly there, they are more obvious on Dead in the Woods. Return to Disruption instead finds the band mining even more texturally interesting material — still bearing the psychedelic noise-rock leanings while also incorporating elements of space-rock and drone.
Reference points are many when charting the band’s upward trajectory. The opening whirlwind of “Beyond and Into the Ultimate” is the first of many that sound like early Unwound. From the thunderous drumming to the dissonant guitar work, the five minutes that make up the piece sound culled straight from the riff bank of Fake Train or New Plastic Ideas. “Return to Disruption” and “Undisturbed” are seemingly lo-fi classmates in the Dead C school of druggy tomfoolery and ambiguous found-sound experiments. The drawn-out sprawl of “Answered in the Negative,” “Demarration Disputes/Unity,” and “Neuralgia” all bring to mind an even more noise-friendly version of Paik or Loop. But throughout the course of Return to Disruption, Grey Daturas take cues from all of these bands and absorb them into their DNA to create something wholly grotesque. Riffs disappear up their own asses only to unfurl nearly eight or nine minutes later in the same song.
The end result of this amalgamation is a very listenable, fascinating album. It’s also one that furthers the notion that Grey Daturas are a band to watch and certainly capable of even more engaging things in the future. For the present, we’re left with an enjoyable trek heavily influenced by the band's contemporaries, all focused into a cohesive but loose-knit monster that's stretching its tentacles from the back swamps of down under.
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