Gothtober- Pharmakon : " Maggot Mass"

 

After a five-year hiatus, this project is back with its raging machines. Things are as dark and dismal as ever. Her vocals start off as more brooding, though you are expecting the screaming temper tantrum to come crashing down at any moment.  The eight-and-a-half-minute opening track stomps into a drone. The noise-ridden edges of the composition are sometimes more dominant than others. The problem things like this can sometimes have with my ears is they tend to focus more on the sounds being created than on writing a song. 

"Methanal Doll" would be the album's lead single, not because it is hookier than the other songs, but because it is the one she made a video for.. Her vocals are in more of a coarse throaty snarl. The machine-like hammering of the drum programming is very deliberate. I do like the use of effects on her voice.  The lyrics are more easily discerned from what I have heard from her in the past, the arrangments tend to just pound in one direction.  "Buyer's Remorse" uses overdriven bass synths for her to rant against. It is almost more like an interlude than a song. 

"Splendid Isolation" finds a return to the banging of machines, though with a more abstract groove than the first two tracks. Her voice has more effects on it which creates the feel that she is singing more than she is, but it sounds cool. Two minutes in things begin to go off the rails and turn more towards the noise side of the equation, though her voice tries to guide, it. This feels like she came up with some sounds that would have been cool to write a song with, but never got around to writing it. "Oiled Animals" feels more like Current 93, as her vocal part is more spoken and things are possessed by a darker minimalist ambiance. The album's first dynamics begin as things are pounded with a more intense feel as things progress. She goes into more of a familiar scream that aligns with what I remember her doing in the past. I will give this one an 8, not enough songwriting, but some cool dark sound compensates. Released on Sacred Bones.

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