Review: Sinister Souls don't mess around. Coming at'cha like a tonne of bricks this album starts as it means to continue and doesn't let up for the duration. The heavy and relentless pelt of the title track "Beat The Drum Hard" is full of pounding drums and mid-range distortions for maximum effect. Huge builds, distorted synth work and extreme sounds with a skullstep meets dubstep aesthetic are order of the day here. Each track comes with its own set of warnings but watch out for "Natural Selection", "We Are Killers" and closing cut "Perfect Organism" for the full Sinister Souls experience.
Review: Rotterdam's own Prospect Recordings enjoys a huge following and an even bigger roster of mashed-up, dark and filthy artists, and this family album looks to capitalise on some of this artistic wealth. Why not? If you had a back catalogue full of some of the most insane drum & bass on offer to the wider world, wouldn't you want to share it? Littered with breakcore, neuro, gabber and hardcore, it's a whipround through the neck-breakingly heavy side of drum & bass that many fear to tread. Track names like "Skullsplitter", "Total Confusion" and "Death Will Set Us Free" have rarely been so truthfully descriptive, and even label darlings Counterstrike and Bong Ra team up for "Possessed", a feeding frenzy of metal, breakcore and drum & bass. A horror movie for your ears. Nobody's lives were ever enriched by staying inside the chillout room.
