A collaboration between the duo of Ampyre and the varied membership of Death Factory, Death Pyre's Concatenation is one part of a trilogy of albums released in 2025. Sharing elements of multiple electronic styles that lean into more abrasive forms, the three pieces on this tape are wonderfully unpredictable and extremely compelling for that very reason.
As I assumed from the Death Factory half of the project's name, there is a clear vein of early industrial and noise that runs through the three pieces that make up this tape. It often resembles a deconstruction of latter day/EBM era industrial though, with erratic rhythms and sequences one would expect, but shredded, mangled, and reassembled into something else entirely.
A low, thumping beat and squawking electronics set up the brief "In Absentia" and opens the tape. Odd vocalizations, divebombing noises, and a dense, distorted synth stay active throughout. Noisy, raw synths make for the primary sound that is carried throughout, but there is far more than that going on at any given moment. The following "International Talking 2" is built on an off-kilter synth sequence, twinkling sounds, and echoing electronic rhythms, but the final product is something much more abstract. Anchored by a slow, echoing thud, light vocals are weaved throughout. There’s even a bit of guitar squall that screams “industrial rock,” but the final product is anything but. Later, spacy tape echo treatments appear, but the song drifts into a driving power electronics chug.
That overdriven chug is up front at the beginning of the longer "The Fruit of Our Labors," with distant sampled voices giving an added sense of menace via their processing. Sheets of noise, pseudo-rhythmic passages, and spoken/pitch shifted vocals all make appearances. In total, is erratic, but in an engaging, rather than in some sloppy way. Twinkling electronics, crunchy textures, and unconventional rhythms round out the entirety of the piece.
What I found most engaging about Concatenation is the fact that all of the elements of genres I am particularly fond of are present, but the end result goes in a completely different direction. Like some sort of blended sludge, the occasional un-devoured chunk of sequencer, guitar, or rhythm passes through, but it is in that sense of deconstruction and reconstruction that drew me in most.
