I'm curious to know how this went under my radar. I am a big Merchandise fan, and since I love Carson Cox's voice, the 2016 album by this project was one of my favorites of that year. This time around the electronic nature of this project overtakes a more organic post-punk feel to the self-titled album. Yeah, there are hints of Sisters of Mercy in "No Cure For Madness" but I would not call this a goth album. It lacks the romanticized atmosphere which gives goth its shade of elegance. This is raw and perhaps more confrontational. Almost like beat-driven punk, which is almost the definition of industrial, but it is not possessed by a dystopian aggression.
You could argue that Throbbing Gristle was a similar brand of experimental beat-driven music, and while "Spirit:" is fueled by a similar chaos, that does not make this industrial and I am not sure I would even say Throbbing Gristle was industrial, despite claims they were the prototype of industrial music. The last Merchandise album was headed in a similar New Wave direction as what we hear on "Another Hero" . Then things get weird again for the droning pound of "Blackwater". Then the creative pendulum swings back towards greatness with "Shadows at Dawn", There are organic instruments in the mix like the fuzzed-out bass line.
"Human / Machinery" bops along a bleaker path, with some cool synth sounds giving his chilling melody room to brood and croon. "Liquidate" finds things continuing to move in a weird direction. Saying " They are not afraid to experiment" would be an understatement. More grooves inhabit the last song, which allows it to live up to its name. Even with the abrasive streak that runs through the bulk of this album the songs manage to win out. I will give this album a 9.
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