Throbbing Gristle - The Second Annual Report

From just looking at the cover, this album might not seem like much. I mean, just look at it! It looks like some kind of lazy bootleg, or the cover to some official document. However, despite its looks, this is one of the most important albums ever made. This is because this is the debut album of the first ever industrial band, Throbbing Gristle. Without this album or band, more famous industrial bands and groups such as Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Marilyn Manson, and Death Grips would never of been created!

Old photo in front of TG's lightning bolt logo

When you first look at the track list of this album, the first thing you might notice is that there are a lot of repeated songs. In fact, out of the 9 tracks on the album, there are 3 tracks called Slug Bait and 4 called Maggot Death. This is because almost all of these repeated tracks are live recordings from different shows. Despite this, all of the repeated tracks sound completely different, and "Maggot Death" (Live at Brighton) is literally just the one of the band members yelling at the audience for not appreciating their music. For most bands, it might not seem like a good  move to release a debut album of mostly live tracks, but for Throbbing Gristle it was necessary. The chaos and spectacle of their live performances was a big part of their music, and without these live tracks you'd be missing a lot of that. 

What makes Throbbing Gristle stand out as a band is their ability to create these dark, uncanny soundscapes and pair them with terrifying lyrics to create deeply disturbing songs. What makes their songs even more disturbing is the fact that a lot of these lyrics are based off of real events, some of them taken directly from coroner and police reports.

From TG's 3rd album: 20 Jazz Funk Greats

A perfect example of this ability is the first track after the introduction, "Slug Bait" (Live at ICA London). This track starts with low, mechanical sounds and TG's singer, Genesis's shaky, almost alien sounding, voice saying "slug bait". As the track goes on, more sounds are added to the background such as a spooky, moaning theremin, and quiet guitar scraping noises. The lyrics of this song are honestly gruesome enough to make your stomach turn. The song is narrated from the perspective of a serial killer who tortures a pregnant woman and her husband before killing them and the unborn baby. Halfway through the song there is one verse which always gives me shivers: "I get your husband from the bedroom/ I cut his balls of with my knife kniKNIFE/ I make him eat them/ In front of his pregnant wife wiWIFE". Notice the strange repeat of "knife" and "wife". This is because these words are echoed as two overlapping damned screams from hell. It's just SO unsettling and disturbing how they did it. It's like a masterpiece from your nightmares. This is probably my favorite Throbbing Gristle song because of how disturbing it is, and because of how well they build the atmosphere.

TG in 2010; Names (Left to Right):
Chris Carter, Cosey Tutti, Peter Christopherson, Genesis P-Orridge

The next track, "Slug Bait" (Live at Southampton), is an instrumental. It's mostly a guitar solo, but unlike normal guitar solos, it seems to be a heavily distorted slide guitar. Although this song mostly acts as a transition between the track before and after it, it still shows off how skilled TG is at creating a disturbing atmosphere. Listening to this track almost makes me feel like I am in a demented short film.

"Slug Bait" (Live at Brighton) is one of the shortest tracks on the album, only a little more than a minute long. This song continues the theme of murder from Live at ICA, but instead of spoken lyrics, has real audio from the interrogation of a Californian teenager who got a life sentence for murdering a 10 year old girl. In the background, a grainy guitar sound drones on.

The Death Factory: logo of TG's label, Industrial Records
It appeared on all of TG's albums and is closely associated with the band

Up next is one of the few studio tracks on this album, Maggot Death. However to save space, I'm going to skip over this track, and instead talk about "Maggot Death" (Live at Rat Club). This song starts with a loud sound which I can only describe as the pained cries of a heavy metal cabinet as it is scraped against a concrete floor. This noise is quickly overtaken by loud stuttering guitars. As the track goes on, samples of people talking, and echoed vocals from Genesis can be heard. I really like how this song slowly gets more and more chaotic until half way through, where it becomes a mash of guitars and samples.

Once again skipping a track, the first side of the record ends with "Maggot Death" (Live at Brighton) which, as mentioned above, is a recording of a member of the band yelling at the audience for not appreciating their music. I feel like this is an appropriate end to the first side of the record, and it stands as a reaction to people who might attack their music for it for what it is: "You're a load of fucking wankers! You're so bloody ignorant, it's unbelievable!"

The final track on this album is "'After Cease To Exist - The Original Soundtrack".  Before TG existed, they were part of a performance art group called COUM Transmissions, and "After Cease To Exist" is one of several films they produced. You can watch and download the film for free here, on Internet Archive, but be warned PARTS OF THIS FILM ARE VERY NSFW! Don't watch it around your kids/parents! I watched it myself, and, I won't give any spoilers, but there were parts of the film I had to skip. Honestly, I would recommend just not watching it. It's not worth it. Anyway, I'm here to talk about the music, not the film. 

The name of the industrial genre comes
from the quote on this rare sticker

This is by far the longest song on the album, taking up the entire second side with a runtime of about 20 minutes, and is an instrumental, dark ambient piece. It's a actually pleasant listen compared to the rest of the album. Bleak drones combined with occasional sequels of feedback and quiet samples of people talking results in something that sounds like it belongs in a post-apocalyptic noir film.

If you can't tell from this review, I have a special place in my heart for Throbbing Gristle. Few bands have been able to replicate the true terror that can be found within their songs. Obviously Throbbing Gristle isn't for everyone. In fact, I'd they aren't for the vast majority of people. However, there is truly something great to be found within their songs if you choose to explore them.

Rating: 8.5/10

Favorite Tracks:  Slug Bait (Live at the ICA London), Slug Bait (Live at Brighton), Maggot Death (Live at Rat Club), Maggot Death (Live at Brighton), After Cease To Exist - The Original Soundtrack

Listen to Throbbing Gristle - The Second Annual Report here!