When they started Gridlock was a good but not really original dark electro / industrial act that had listened quite well to Skinny Puppy. With every record their sound evolved. The melodies became less cliché dark and gothic like and the rhythm structures became more and more complex.
On Formless the evolution continues, although the opening track ‘Pallid’ could raise some other expectations. This song goes back to the sound of somewhat older work, only in a more complex version. The track is dynamic and switches between atmospheric fragments and harsh rhythmic industrial pieces. After this track Formless becomes more quite(‘Distance’) to built up again towards songs with more tempo and louder sounds (’Scratch’) before leaving the listener with a quiet and atmospheric track (‘Done Processing’).
The sound of this record is reminiscent of the early Autechre records. It has the same dark and melancholy mood laid out over unpredictable rhythms. Gridlock has with Formless again made a clever album. Only few acts know how to make electronic music that is both artistically interesting and really nice to listen to.
