Author & Punisher – "Nocturnal Birding"

Completing Hitchcock's avian doomsday vision outta left field

Apart from his last album, 2022's equally blinding and queerly titled "Krüller", my relationship with Tristan Shone, a.k.a. Author & Punisher, is limited to an equally eye- and mind-opening show at a Danish metal festival, which was exactly what made me want to listen to the man's albums. And let it be said up front that this newest one of his ranks among the most powerful releases in 2025.

I wrote in my review of "Krüller" that, "[it] has to be as well-written and creatively comprehensive as it gets within this genre. Author & Punisher embraces both cold, frighteningly irreconcilable destruction as well as tender, relatable human vulnerability. And he combines the two with mesmerizing professionalism". Well, this time around, all that human vulnerability is nowhere to be found. Where "Krüller" had several almost beautiful passages with clear hints of golden-age Vangelis, modern-day Gary Numan, and all-round Deftones, "Notcurnal Birding" just plain crushes.

I'm not even sure if those first three chords of "Meadowlark" (yeah, there's this whole bird theme going on) are played on a synth, but they sound like the most frightening scenes from this one little 1984 sci-fi action masterpiece, name of "The Terminator". Everything is grim, foreboding, and threatening from the very beginning. And as everything explodes in a sluggishly heavy doomsday drive, it's more evil than anything that Skinny Puppy ever aspired to be. The shouting vocals are distorted and animalistic. Shone's many proprietary sound machines are evident here, and it only makes the whole thing even more disturbing – like you're listening to part music recording, part factory hardware.

It's as if the whole thing constantly one-ups itself in being disturbing.

And if by magic – black magic, of course – everything manages to only get darker, heavier, and more disturbing throughout. The rhythm in "Mute Swan" seemingly has little rhyme or reason; like it's just a tad too irregular for the listener to keep up. And I'll betcha that's on purpose. After a long mid-section with a semi-intangible, spoken female voice substituting most rhythm and instrumentation, the track goes into a hellish industrial slaughterhouse, its high frequencies being caustic; the deep ones harrowing. You can almost feel the vibrations, as though the Earth were starting to tremble below you.

Want some more deep frequencies? "Black Storm Petrel" is pure doom metal pace. The vocals are demonically distorted. This is more evil than several doom and black metal bands. It makes Lord Belial sound like uncle rock. And that painfully protracted, high-pitched shout in the B-section is even more unsettling – it's as if the whole thing constantly one-ups itself in being disturbing.

The hard, stiff, machine-like drive of "Titmouse", spanning several bars, is even more inhuman. The vocals, although distorted, do carry a hint of a melody, but it seems to be intentionally lagging behind the tempo, so it ends up being out of sync with the rhythm section. But I can't really tell; I'm too busy feeling disconcerted. And in the same way, while it does feature a guitar solo, said solo isn't really tonal enough to be gratifying, and I'll betcha that's on purpose, too. Just like the chorus melody in "Rook" does actually make for a somewhat redemptive feature, its cold, merciless surroundings almost quash it, the steel-grating, inhuman rhythm comprised of three machine-like 5/4 bars and a 6/4 bar every fourth round. Bam.

It takes a special collective level of vision, creativity, and guts to be able to create something like this – equally inspired and inspiring.

Saving the album's most memorable moments for the ending is an equally powerful and ballsy move. The desolate, bare Minor-key of "Thrush" evolves over an even more stifling b5 introduction to something outright fucked. The theme and rhythm sneak up on the track and almost assault it, its dramatic sci-fi atmosphere giving everything an otherworldly shine. But really, "dramatic" isn't sufficient; this is both a different level of dramatic and a different level of music.

I know I'm stingy with that top rating, but there are a few reasons why I can't grant one in this case, either. One is the relative monotony of things here: As impressive and breathtaking as "Notcurnal Birding" is, its undiluted, imposingly inhuman evil is a lot to take in, even at 35 minutes – an opportune playing time for an album this unaccommodating. The other is that the tracks only end in an abrupt manner – no outros, no codas, no fades. And while this may be said to add to the cold, nihilistic expression, this material could easily carry a more rounded composition and just that bit more fullness.

One thing I also wrote about "Krüller", which it has in common with "Notcurnal Birding", is that they should both be considered art. It takes a special collective level of vision, creativity, and guts to be able to create soundscapes like these – equally inspired and inspiring. So any and all imaginable shortcomings aside, while not album of the year for me personally, it still comes damn close.

Peep, peep, motherfucker.

Rating: 5.5 out of 6

Genre: Industrial metal
Release date: 3/10/2025
Label: Relapse
Producer: Tristan Shone + Will Putney