It’s safe to say that Getter has been through a lot in the past six years. He’s certainly not the same trenchlord that he was when he released the Swine EP on Rottun in 2012 nor his actual debut album I Want More in 2013. It was around 2015 that Getter, real name Tanner Petulla, began to show some alternative colors, releasing the vibey and atmospheric Planet Neutral EP.
In the three years since, Getter has developed into more than just a dubstep artist, but an artist in his own right. There’s no better demonstration of that evolution than his new album Visceral, a 12-track journey into the mind of one of music’s most interesting stories.
Where dubstep and riddim tend to play purely for the club, Visceral is a collection of songs that tell stories, stories of heartbreak, rejection, unhealthy relationships, struggles, and more. They’re not concepts new to music by any means, but Getter is certainly presenting them in a new context. He teams up with a number of featured artists on the album – Audio Opera, Allan Kingdom, nothing,nowhere., Sweetsound, Midoca, Name UL, Njomza, Party Nails and Joji, to name a few – in order to properly convey his thoughts and the result is nothing short of spectacular.
Perhaps the most beautiful song on the album is the reimagined “Colorblind,” transformed from the rock/hip hop/dance hybrid single that was released earlier this year into an orchestral interlude that is deeply emotional and impeccably produced. It easily draws out the level of feeling it sets out to, made even more powerful as one of the only songs on the album with Getter’s own vocals.
Each song is able to carry itself alone, but the album as a whole is so much more powerful as a cohesive unit. Having only heard the singles up until now, my perception of the album has changed completely after hearing the entire thing.
If you listen to one album today, and there are many to choose from, make it Getter’s Visceral.