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Black Lung, "The Coming Dark Age"
As David Thrussell's Snog project continues to drift further andfurther away from EBM, somewhat recently veering into politicallycharged country/folk music, the abstract technoid funk and industrialinformed experimentation of Black Lung serves more and more as his solelifeline to an otherwise alienated audience.
Roughly ten years removed literally and stylistically from now sought after rarities like The Disinformation Plague and Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars,Thrussell aspires to assemble a diversity of sounds in the service of asingular thematic vision, specifically that of our world's perilousdependence on petroleum and the bleak future that awaits us all.Whether or not such an accomplishment is actually achieved here,however, is questionable.
One of the highlights is "Karmageddon," previously released by AntZen on vinyl some months back. Undeniably dancefloor friendly, itdazzles with dripping acidic basslines and vicious electro grooves moreappropriate for a label like Bunker, Clone, or even Rephlex than on thesame imprint as Converter and Monokrom. Referencing the science fictionnovel that also reveals the album title's origins, "Leibowitz'sCanticle" employs a sample of a masculine choir chant, evocative of theCatholic Church at the center of the story, without seeming toorepetitive amidst the dribbling squiggles. Midway, it abruptly shiftsinto another gear with a rhythmic onslaught more likely found on arelease from one of Thrussel's labelmates. Sadly, much of the albumfails to match the consistency of these choice cuts.
"The Great Automobile Hunt" and "Concrete Octopus," while finerelectro-rock-n-rollers than anything found on T. Raumschmiere's recentalbum-length turd, trudge along like remastered relics from the '80s,coming across more hokey than edgey. The quasi-tribal rhythms of"Armies of Oil" are rigorously twisted and mangled through a variety offilters and software effects, resulting in fleeting, unstable,frustrating moments ranging from fluidity to distorted rigidity withinmere bars of eachother.
Clocking in at just under an hour, The Coming Dark Age makesfor an unbalanced listening experience, as it lacks a desirablecohesion or at least a perceptible musical linkage between its thirteentracks. Despite its commendable subject matter, the frequent temptationto skip over some of the album's more meandering pieces cannot beoverlooked despite noted standouts in the bunch.
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