Was looking for more industrial music to cover and stumbled across this four-piece from London, who are making interesting music not far removed from Meat Beat Manifesto or Young Gods. This sounds like a lost album from the 90s which is good for industrial music as that is the golden decade for it. It's rooted in punk, but with other influences flourish, and more organic than button pushing as the bass line driving the second song is very solid. This is hooky even the the vocals are muttered more than screamed or sung. In some ways, it creates a uniform sound but it works for the first two songs, so I am going to wait and see how they expand on the dynamics before weighing judgment.
Things are more organic placing them closer to post-punk. The baritone vocals ride the beat well but seem unenthused which is a counterpoint to the upbeat grooves. The bass sits more forward in the mix than the guitar which creates a syncopated jangle in the background. "Closer" moves with a street-wise swagger while the vocals are more of a chant. "Oil at the Bottom of a Drum" works off a darker more dub-like groove, the vocals switch their approach just enough to work with this more dub-ish style.
'Got Sold " feels like it's working off an almost Chemical Brothers-like beat. "Panic' sets what they do in a more manic setting. The guitar steps up to lend the melodic touch the album needs on "Small Blue World" as the bass holds things down. This album feels stark and brooding in its urban environment, but not dark like goth, though dark enough to be adjacent enough to be included this month as we are having to take what we can get this year in terms of this kind of music. There is a darker pulse to "Catalonia' which works pretty well and manages to hide the fact their singer has just gotten away with talking his way through this album. I will give this album a 9, it's good for what it is , and does not sound like everything else while combining some interesting elements and killer grooves.
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