Electric Doom Synthesis, CRUSHINGBEATSDOOMCAVEABOMINATION, France, Croux Records, cassette (2024)
You probably can guess this alarmingly titled album is the product of a frightening new sonic creature, one christening itself after Finnish black metal act Beherit’s third album “Electric Doom Synthesis”. Hailing from France, EDS presents a very pessimistic view of future human society, one governed by an oppressive, technologically dependent apparatus in which humans are viewed as a giant mass of soulless entities, each no better or having more value than an insect, on this work of bleak industrial / noise / power electronics. There may be other musical genres represented on this debut, but their influence seems very slight, and the dominant style of music is harsh, bleak, often rhythmic and highly abrasive in texture.
The album divides into two halves and the latter half is taken up by one track “Carverider” performed in a live setting in March 2024. Stretching over half an hour, “Carverider” winds its way through many detours in different music settings, most of which are noisy, aggressive and highly confrontational. There are some unexpected quiet surprises – though they don’t stay quiet for very long! – and a few passages are dominated by heavy beats, with one late section filled with rapid-fire breakbeats that go so fast they end up turning into one continuous cacophonic noise drone stream. Despite all this, the track holds together very well, channelling its restless energy from one noisescape to the next smoothly.
The album’s first half, also about half an hour long, is slightly better behaved and a bit more restrained, with found sound recordings and vocals present in parts. Four tracks of varying lengths take us through different parts of the EDS dystopian hell, some more darkly ambient, menacing in mood or close to sheer madness than others. Though they’re all noisy and chaotic, they do differ from one another in mood and are frightening in their various ways, especially in their use of vocal samples to portray a post-modern dysfunctional panopticon society.
For all its strident cacophony and sometimes monstrous vocals, all steeped in a harsh production, the album does exert a pull on your consciousness: you find yourself anticipating whatever unpleasant surprise might be just around the corner, and you end up having to follow the music and see out its post-industrial nightmare vision to the bitter end.