With each successive album,
Bardo Pond continues to reshape and refine their monolithic sound, drawing ever closer to the oxymoronic ideal of controlled chaos that their brand of supreme noise seems to promise.
Lapsed doesn't reach that holy grail, but it takes the group to a new level regardless, expanding into new dimensions of cacophony while sharpening the focus of their music to reflect an increasing emphasis on shape and form; the tension between the melodies of songs like "Pick My Brain," "Flux," and the epic closer "Aldrin" and the feverish blasts of noise which ultimately erupt from them is electrifying. The achievement of
Lapsed is that for the first time, it's possible not merely to get lost in
Bardo Pond's music, but to let it actually lead you somewhere as well -- certainly a trip well worth taking. ~ Jason Ankeny