You glare into the eye of the beast, through the pouring liquid that separates you from its vast, violent being. Several injection molded cones gleam in the autumn sun, returning your contemptuous glare. There is no love between the two of you, but clichéd mutual respect, each vowing to conquer the other. You think back on the days you nearly wrestled the monster into submission, only to be defeated as if a matter of fact. But just as presumably you doggedly jump back in day after day, clutching whatever you might on its slippery hide, plunging your knife deeply and harmlessly into its back only to stave off the thundering flood accompanying your conquest. But, sure as shit, you fail without fail.
I'm a poor man's Herman Melville, if even the literarily bankrupt would have me. But, I'm compelled to ape his whale epic to properly convey what a listener's relationship with Eruption will be. If you know the names, you know there's certainly something of merit lurking within this behemoth, and you catch frequent glimpses of it, to be sure; but the sheer mass and density here rebukes you each time. If you try to wrangle the beast, you expose too much of yourself and will certainly be flicked aside in due time. You can dull your senses to the beast and duck your head, and hold on for the entirety of the ride, but you'll have made little progress towards understanding in doing so. Certainly reminiscent of Drumm's brutal Sheer Hellish Miasma, this one is exceedingly more complex and dynamic and thus that much harder to properly immerse yourself in. Whereas "Miasma" focused your energies like a wind tunnel and you emerged from the listening as conqueror with a void where your hector once was, Eruption probes you and finds any weakness, exploits it, and upon the album's close, you feel utterly beaten; but your whale is still there, daring you to try again. Oh, and you feel like a better person for giving it a go at all.
1. Prologue
2. Begin with a Dribble, End with a Very Strong Downbeat
3. Exploding Artery
4. Eruption
5. Erupting with Pus
6. Eruption with Pus
7. Eruption of Noncompliant Pus in the Plague of Mediocrity
8. Saliva Sprinkler
9. Raging Torrent
10. Noncompliant Raging Torrent
11. Please Chop off Your Penis (Now)
12. Fluid-filled Lung Sack
13. Unexpected Death
14. It Would be too Predictable if We Mentioned 'Death' Again
15. Crank Up the Bullshit Knob to 10
16. Why Can't I Shit
17. Feel-Smell-Taste-Hear-Touch the Shit
18. It's Shit!
19. Eat Shit... and Live!
20. "I Take My Hangovers Like a Real Man"
21. I Just Whaled on a Music Critic with a Baseball Bat
22. Take Me Seriously or I'll Start Crying
23. If You Keep Saying Things like that, No One Will Like You
24. The Pat Boone of Improvised Music Walks Among Us
25. Your Problem is that you Only Play Fast all the Time
26. We're Funny and if you don't Agree, You're Stupid
27. Another Incredible Display of Physical Exertion
28. Serious Music with Sardonic Song Titles
29. Pretending to Wreck My Musical Equipment Makes Me Feel Tough
30. Give that Guy Some More Press Coverage, Quick!
31. The More You Frown, the More I Smile
32. "How Does It Feel When Someone Does That to You"
33. I Made a Phony "Tribute Album" to Make Fun of Self-Righteous Know-it-alls
34. "You Aren't Being Avantgarde in the Correct Way"
35. Your Unlistenable Musical Masturbations Aren't Quite As Interesting as Mine
36. I Released 78,032 Different Compact Discs of Improvised Music Last Week (and sold 14)
37. "Why Must You Always Say Such Shocking Things"
38. "In 20 Years I'll Probably Like Your Muisc, But Right Now I Think You're a Total Dick"
39. Quit Shrieking in My Ear
40. Surprise Ending