Review: Electronic music doesn't get much darker than Orphx. They were last seen back in 2016 with the excellent Pitch Black Mirror album, and thankfully, not much has changed since. The industrial duo still blend noise, techno and ebm better than anyone else. This fusion is audible on the menacing, stepping opener, "Solipisit", which veers off into acrid acid or on the pummelling, pounding rhythm of "Bare Life", which features abstract noise and searing guitars in the background. On the furious, frenetic rhythms of "Pain is the Teacher", it sounds like Rich Oddie has taken to the mic to dispense the quick pace vocal lines, while "Tröma Nakmo" is a pounding, distorted banger.
Review: Thirteen may be unlucky for some, but clearly not for Orphx. Following a series of EPs on Adam X's label, the industrial duo now release their thirteenth studio album and their first long player to feature on Sonic Groove. Mirror has no shortage of the gut-busting broken beat workouts that the project is best known for, best demonstrated on "Sever The Signal" and "Blood In The Streets". Orphx also show that they are equally adept at straight down the line techno - evident on the tortured shrieks and distorted kicks of "Molten Heart" and the deranged acid of "Zero Hour" - but they also effortlessly conjure up the atmospheric, sound scapes of "Walk Into The Broken Night" and the title track.
Review: The latest addition to the Sonic Groove roster is UNC, a producer from Italy. He opens his account on the US label with "Shesha", a spellbindingly hypnotic techno groove, which sounds like it was recorded at 20,000 leagues beneath the sea. By contrast, "Xellerate" is a densely tangled web of broken beats that is too abstract to work on the dance floor. "Anarchemy" sees UNC back in club mode with its dense, slamming beats and thundering, stepping rhythm hitting the listener like a breezeblock in the face. Finally, there's "Sanskrit Vinyasa"; with its nagging, insistent percussion and snaking bass, it is UNC's most subtle and sophisticated production so far.
Review: Apparently, Andreas Andreasson aka Diagenetic Origin is a tattoo artist. Whatever about his day work, he certainly leaves his mark with this release for Sonic Groove. The title track is underscored by pummeling, tribal beats, but is laden down with deep textures. It's also not indicative of where Andreasson's mind is at generally on this record. Certainly on "Telepathic Future" it sounds like he is in a foul mood, as broken beats are set to a stepping rhythm, while "Parallel Realities", with its pumping rhythm and booming bass, confirms that he is in a dark place. However, he moves back to a more considered pace for the final track, the slow, hammering beats and resonant bass of "The Awakening".
It's Some Men's Faith To Face Great Darkness - (6:41) 86 BPM
The Cut - (6:11) 83 BPM
Review: Danish duo Northern Structures make their fifth appearance on Adam X's label, and like the previous releases, Pressure strikes a balance between eerie atmospherics and subtle but bleak industrial rhythms. The rather grandly titled "It's Some Men's Faith To Face Great Darkness" is the best example of these two approaches coming together as stripped back broken beats provide the basis for creepy, swirling textures that hang like ghosts over a swamp. "Untold Secrets" is more subtle and the beats are rickety, but the duo quickly swings back towards a menacing approach. "The Cut" sounds like Hoover bass caked in layers of soot, while "Skagerrak" is a dense, clanging rhythm that sounds like the pair is dropping metal bars down a lift shaft.
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