EP Review: GEL - 'Persona'
New Jersey punks Gel come through with a rager of a new EP, ‘Persona’.
New Jersey; Bruce Springsteen, The Sopranos and an overwhelming sense - gleaned undoubtedly from subliminal film and TV moments - of industrial wastelands. The artist Robert Smithson in his multimedia work ‘A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic’ described “…a kind of self-destroying postcard world of failed immortality and oppressive grandeur.” It’s a view that is obviously reductive… but, then, you put on a New Jersey band like Gel, perhaps their new EP ‘Persona’, and think to yourself, “Yeah, this lot probably grew up in a post-industrial dystopia.” They make the kind of sound that can only be created by the harsh reality of life at the sharp end of neoliberalism; one shaped by stubbornness and anger rather than by resignation. To quote the Sopranos exchange between Chrissy and Paulie, which opened the band’s 2021 release ‘Violent Closure’;
“You ever feel like nothin’ good was ever going to happen to you?”
“Yeah, and nothin’ did… so what?”
After a couple of EPs drew attention across the hardcore scene, it was last year’s full length ‘Only Constant’ (16 and a half minutes being long enough to get their point across) that brought a more widespread head turning and a raft of positive reviews. ‘Persona’ follows on from this, as well as a lengthy tour of the US and Europe, and finds them at a point of musical experimentation. Not too much so, though. Opener ‘Mirage’ might be their longest track to date, but it hits that milestone and packs up shop just before the three minute mark; we’re hardly in ‘In My Head’ era Black Flag territory here. A straightforward stomper, it gets into a pummelling groove pretty much immediately and rides it through to the last quarter, at which point it morphs into a much slower, heavier beast.
This is followed by ‘Shame’, built around a thrashy riff which ably demonstrates why they could be found recently on a UK and Ireland jaunt with Municipal Waste. Probably the closest they have come to demonstrating the screamo influences they have a habit of signposting mid-interview, it offers an interesting glimpse of potential things to come. The title track, meanwhile, contains all the elements we’ve come to expect from the band; a mid-tempo chug which builds momentum as it goes, storm systems swirling together to create an absolute bloody maelstrom, before slowing proceedings right down to stomp to the finish line.
It is these changes of pace, also at work in ‘Martyr’ and ‘Vanity’, which Gel handle so well. Being able to shift gears seamlessly whilst still maintaining such a primal sound is something to be commended. As ‘Vanity’ bludgeons through to the EP’s end through squeals of feedback, I think once again of Smithson. The NJ suburb of his travels seemed to him “...full of “holes” compared to New York City, which seems tightly packed and solid, and those holes in a sense are the monumental vacancies that define, without trying, the memory-traces of an abandoned set of futures.” Whether that was the case then, whether it still is now, there is no questioning that this Jersey quintet is both tightly packed and solid. ‘Persona’ showcases a band delving into new sonic territory, potential futures embraced rather than abandoned, whilst still remaining true to the sound that first turned heads back in 2019. Talk has been rife of the visceral nature of their gigs, and the stylistic diversity showcased here is bound to add an intriguing element to their live dynamic.
Words by Jono Coote
