BLACK MAGNET

Hallucination Scene

20 Buck Spin
rating icon 8 / 10

Track listing:

01. Divination Equipment
02. Anubis
03. Punishment Map
04. Neuroprophet
05. Trustfucker
06. Crush Me
07. Hegemon
08. Walking In The Dark


As sensible people will be well aware, there are few things more gloriously crushing and brutal than the sound of GODFLESH's "Streetcleaner" album cranked to the maximum. The industrial scene's close relationship with extreme metal has endured several decades at this point, but in the 30 years since that landmark album, very few bands have come close to equaling that sublime collision between man and machine. This year, however, there are at least two superb examples of flagrant and admirable GODFLESH worship on offer. Check out the new REALIZE album, if you haven't yet had the pleasure, but first head straight to this utterly vicious and untamed 26-minute robo-grind riot. BLACK MAGNET at least appear to be a one-man wrecking crew from Oklahoma City, which means that one person is making all this noise. Maybe things are as bleak in Oklahoma as they were in the British Midlands in the late '80s: either way, the thick, unforgiving atmosphere and sheer mechanized savagery that BLACK MAGNET are peddling is every bit as convincing and hypnotic as its most obvious, righteous influence.

This is a simply ferocious statement of intent, with all the snottiness and sense of psychotic momentum that can make industrial metal so instantly invigorating. Opener "Divination Equipment" is the sound of doors being kicked open and blood hitting concrete: two minutes of hostile electro-sludge churn, fueled by some unseen, unholy power source. "Anubis" is a moodier affair, driven by four-to-the floor menace and full of stabbing guitar samples and white-knuckle distortion. "Punishment Map" is an exercise in pure, vein-popping brutality, with shades of UNIFORM and ALEC EMPIRE and a lobotomized punk rock gait, it offers 94 of this year's most exciting sonic seconds. It may also make you want to drive your car through a wall, so be careful out there. At a slower clip, "Neuroprophet" veers into woozy, psychedelic hate-gaze, its shadowy creator's disembodied yelps echoing into a barren, pixelated cosmos; "Trustfucker" is all slow-motion hip-hop pummel and eerie ambient asides. "Crush Me" is an up-tempo assault with some wickedly satisfying low-end grind going on; "Hegemon" takes the dancing-in-treacle digi-funk route; closer "Walking In The Dark" is an opaque, dissonant nightmare set to a repetitive bleep, ticking down to some unnamed but looming apocalypse.

Inspired by the mecha-metal greats but brimming with warped ideas of its own, "Hallucination Scene" confirms that being crushed by the wheels of industry is still a unique thrill.

Author: Dom Lawson
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).