SHANE EMBURY

Napalm Death's bassist on his passion for prog, flirting with Cardiacs and his very progressive new solo album.

- Dom Lawson

Shane Embury is arguably best known for making a horrible racket. As bassist with Brummie grindcore legends Napalm Death, he has been terrorising audiences since the late 80s, and shows no signs of stopping. But beyond his day job as a noisy bastard, Embury is also a prolific exponent of weird and wonderful side-projects, some of which have self-evident progressive DNA.

Over the last few years, he has been exploring the realms of electronic music, industrial and freeform ambience under the name Dark Sky Burial and making some incredibly strange progressive metal with Tronos, a collaboration with longtime associate and producer Russ Russell.

But the most overtly prog-friendly sounds he has ever made can be found on new solo album Bridge To Resolution. The first record he has released under his own name, it's a bewildering but highly accessible splurge of futuristic post-punk, fidgeting electronics and atmospheric avant-pop, sitting somewhere between Devin Townsend's widescreen indulgence and the leftfield industrial rock of latter-day Killing Joke. Partly inspired by his own experiences in Jungian therapy, Bridge To Resolution is a prog-friendly and deeply personal endeavour. As a confirmed Cardiacs and Rush fanatic, Embury is delighted to qualify for coverage in Prog.

Prog readers will recognise you as being from Napalm Death. Why should they listen to your new solo album?

It's an interesting point! It's very electronic in places and I was heavily into my synths at the time, but there's a couple of parts in there that are proggy in the sense that I hear my Cardiacs influences coming through. It's experimental, and I think early prog, a lot of it was experimental. That's one reason why people should check it out!