Released
on December 6th, 1999, NON's Receive the Flame turns 25 years old
today. After a trio of albums featuring bombastic drumming and vocal
sloganeering ,uncomfortably akin to fascist propaganda, enfant terrible,
Boyd Rice, side-stepped the Social Darwinism for a return to purely
instrumental "noise music". It's all more like a throwback to his
untitled debut "black" album and, likely his most revered work, Blood
and Flame. The repeated allusion to fire seems significant in this
context, as the album is very much a return to form in its use of heavy
repetition, intricate layering and oblique references to fragmentary pop
music relics. And while it is a recalling of his pioneering approach,
it is also an evolution and refinement of it, offering a surprising
clarity that was beyond the primitive methodologies of those earlier
"lo-fi" efforts.
Refreshingly
freed from the burdens of ideological controversies, the listener can
simply enjoy the perfection of the sound, without having to dwell on the
sociopolitical stance of its creator. In some regards, it's almost
"listenable" to those who might not be accustomed to the rigours of
hard-core "noise music". Boyd Rice can be a confounding personality, to
put it mildly, but when he focuses only on the sound, his creative
genius is undeniable. An album like Receive the Flame is a perfect
example of his best abilities being allowed to flourish in all their
cacophonous glory, demonstrating why he is often touted as the "king of
noise music".
