BRMC's The Effects of 333

BRMC released their latest album, The Effects of 333, at 3:33am on November 1. A psychedelic industrial soundscape, the album reminds me of what NIN did earlier this year with Ghosts I-IV, but much more ambient.

Listening to the first three songs, I would have never bet this was BRMC. But the moment track four starts, ‘And With This Comes’, it becomes instantly recognizable, before splintering back off into mysterious- almost scary- instrumentals. ‘A Twisted State’ and ‘Or Needed’ are the other more BRMC sounding tracks.

The song titles seem to form a poem:

The Effects of 333. Still No Answer.
I Know You’re In There.
And With This Comes, A Sad State, A Twisted State, Sedated With Sterilized Tongues.
We’re Not Welcome Alone, Or Needed.
And When Was Better.

‘And When Was Better’ is an interesting one. It’s newscasters talking about the Kennedy assassination. Could this be political? With all of the Obama-Kennedy references out there, coupled with the timing of the album drop, it makes me think so.

This is BRMC’s first independently released, downloadable only album. As with NIN, this is the type of non-commercial material that record labels never want anything to do with, but artists always want to release. That’s why we’re getting these high concept, artistic pieces from bands out the gate of their unedited, self-published careers. I’m digging it, but I do miss the lyrics and guitars…