Hot on the heels of Attrition’s 25th anniversary comes two more re-releases on the group’s Two Gods imprint.  Taken back-to-back, these two albums showcase the band’s virtuosity.  The Attrition of Reason finds Attrition in experimental darkwave mode, splicing dual male and female vocals with speculative electro goth.  Though this early material is far less coherent than more recent work such as Dante’s Kitchen, the songs on The Attrition of Reason are rich in profluency and leave you with the urgent desire to discover how they will end.  It’s really a shame that tracks like “The Redoubt of Light” and “Beast of Burden” don’t get much play in the same venues that favor Sixteens, Autonervous, or Cabaret Voltaire’s older work…they’d fit right in with the mutant dance floor invasion.

Esoteria, a collection of Attrition’s forays into neo-classical and dark ambient soundscapes, finds the group working in a much more introspective vein.  Largely sans vocals, the tracks on Esoteria are built around real strings and chillingly cold synthwork.  If Jean-Paul Sartre made horror films, these arrangements would have been the perfect soundtrack.  Of especial note is their take on “Silent Night”–imagine Christmas in a haunted Victorian dollhouse and you’re on the right tact.  Versatile and unique, Attrition make must for the ages, even if they’ve gone strangely unrecognized for such a varied back catalog.  As Nietzsche remarked, some are born posthumously.

The Attrition of Reason

Esoteria

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