It's difficult to blame Jason Williamson's mood these days: angry, disillusioned, gloomy, but also paradoxically lucid in photographing the present. With “The Demise Of Planet spoken word visceral by Williamson, who from a chronicler of British disenchantment has now transformed into a global interpreter of contemporary malaise.
Acting as godmother to the project is the mocking laughter of the dragon queen Gwendoline Christie who opens “The Good Life”, a very catchy song that moves on the contrast between the aggressive tone of frontman and glacial elegance wing Bowie by Joe Hicklin of Big Special.
Among the many “fucks” thrown at vanity, consumer culture and contemporary machismo, real pearls emerge. “Elitest GOAT” is one of the best: against narcissistic exhibitionism and the culture of the “best of all”, Williamson finds in Aldous Harding's refined voice a counterpoint that amplifies the sense of alienation. “Megaton”, with its explosive and pressing bass, represents the most energetic and corrosive side of the album, while “No Touch”, enriched by the collaboration with Sue Tompkins, balances tension and introspection with a groove more calibrated and subtle.
There title track of the album perfectly summarizes the duo's poetics: mechanical rhythm, hypnotic bass, sarcasm and desperation intertwined in a single verbal flow. It is the portrait of a world on its last legs, but also of a humanity incapable of stopping consuming itself. In “Bad Santa”, many have seen a direct reference to Donald Trump and, more generally, to the display of male power.
In “Gina Was” Williamson abandons his crazy preacher tone for once and reveals a crack in his voice, recounting an episode of teenage bullying he was the victim of. The full-bodied tones and soul inflections of “Flood The Zone” are completely new for the duo, enriched by the presence of Liam Bailey. “Kill List”, however, sinks into the ground grime where we left them with the previous “UK Grim”: beat sharp edges and a brutal energy that show how the two, from their beginnings to today, have only refined a more mature productive awareness. No mannerism, no tiredness: just the lucidity of those who continue to find new material in the world (alas) on which to launch their lightning-fast broadsides.
01/27/2026
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
