Anger Do Not Enter

The fourth full-length by Toronto's Beef Terminal finds sole constant M.D. Matheson sticking with what he does best, with just enough subtle changes on what is by now an entirely familiar sound to keep Anger Do Not Enter from sounding redundant. Opening track "Everything Is Alive" puts the hyperkinetic cut-and-paste beats well in front of Matheson's trademark guitar loops, and "No Robbers, No Kidnappers, No Fires, No Floods" adds layers of decay and distortion to further scuff the ordinarily placid mood. But then "Avails" pacifies the vibe, and Beef Terminal's familiar mellowness continues through the downright minimalist "Knife in the Table," a brief solo piece for guitar and echo recalling vintage Durutti Column. By the album's midpoint, even the thudding, mechanical beat that loops through "About to Rain (Or Not)" is eventually overtaken by Robert Fripp-like guitar loops, and the seven and a half minute "Say It to My Face" sinks fully into shimmering loveliness in the complete absence of musical tension. At the album's climax, the 12-minute epic "We Look to Adults" repeats the entire sequence, from beat-heavy tension to hallucinatory stillness, in miniature, followed by the old-fashioned heavily processed beautiful noise of the brief title track. Anyone less than enthralled by Beef Terminal's earlier albums will remain similarly unmoved by Anger Do Not Enter, but it proves that Matheson has yet to run out of ideas. ~ Stewart Mason|