The original 1977-81 version of Gang of Four was such a fearsomely airtight, telepathic unit that its individual constituents are rarely regarded among the finest in their respective fields. Though frontman Jon King uniquely channeled both the lithe physicality of Iggy Pop and the suave dignity of Bryan Ferry, he’s rarely spoken about in the same breath as either. Andy Gill is the quintessential musician’s musician, worshipped and imitated by countless celebrity acolytes (The Edge and Tom Morello among them), but not enough of a household name to land on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists list. And the rhythm section of Hugo Burnham and Dave Allen was nothing less than the post-punk Bonham and Jones, but didn’t stick together long enough to be widely hailed as such. What each member brought to the table is ultimately best gauged through the process of attrition that has played out over the band’s spasmodic career.
But even if none of the albums King and Gill made without Allen and Burnham recaptured the funky ferocity of their earliest output together, the unmistakable interplay between the singer and guitarist at least marked them as Gang of Four records, in spite of whatever period-specific production signatures defined (and dated) those releases. However, after getting the old band back together in 2004, updating their back catalog, and even sticking it out for a respectable showing after Allen and Burnham bailed once again, it appears the only thing left for Gang of Four to do is to not be Gang of Four. Now that King is out of the picture following his 2011 resignation (to focus on his career in advertising), with What Happens Next, Gang of Four have effectively entered the reality-TV vocal-competition phase of their career, with lone holdout Gill filling the gaping hole at the mic stand with a revolving cast of guest vocalists.
Which is, of course, a perfectly Gang of Four thing to do. After all, inciting the ire of Go4 purists—through sudden changes in direction and personnel—is perhaps the only constant factor in the band’s disjointed trajectory. As the band’s founding member and perennial musical director, it’s well within Gill’s rights to keep the Gang of Four name alive even without the guy who’s sung pretty much all of their songs. But while the guitarist’s signature scabrous funk lashes and ear-piercing feedback frequencies remain ever-present, here they’re in service to a boilerplate post-industrial aesthetic—mid-tempo metronomic beats, distorted-megaphone backing vocals, fuzz-filtered basslines, ominous electronic oscillations—that makes What Happens Next sound more like a mid-'90s alt-rock product than the album Gang of Four actually released in the mid-'90s. Factor in the singer ringers, and What Happens Next doesn’t so much resemble a new look for a veteran post-punk band as the soundtrack to some dystopian thriller from 20 years ago. (In light of this, you could be forgiven for thinking the closing Gill original "Dead Souls" is less a callback to the Joy Division classic of the same name than to Nine Inch Nails’ remake for The Crow.)
