Thursday 2 February 2017

Review - Blanck Mass - World Eater





Blanck Mass - World Eater (Sacred Bones Records)


LP / CD / DL


3 March 2017

8/10


Review by Simon.


Benjamin John Power follows up his acclaimed 2015 double album, Dumb Flesh, with an album that seeks to highlight our animal urges whilst also seeking beauty.

World Eater's cover is an image of a teeth baring dog smiling. This image perfectly illustrates the music within as, like the image, there is a sense of danger and threat but also lots of positivity and goodwill. Power has been making some of the most progressive music out there for a while now whether solo or as one half of Fuck Buttons and with World Eater he manages to pull together everything he has created before and make a concise, euphoric, disturbing yet incredibly rewarding album.

Fans of the more chaotic side to Power's work will be delighted as there is plenty to enjoy here. There's the drill-fuck techno of Rhesus Negative which plays out like the glue-sniffing klepto cousin of FB's Brainfreeze. There's carnage noise that starts Minnesota / Eas Fors / Naked which swallows you whole and squeezes the mind. However, it is not the thundering drums or all encompassing sonics that shine on this album. The true star here is the beauty and optimism that snakes through it.

The glistening beauty of Please, all gospel handclaps and sub-bass wobble shares the same space as the work of Burial as it manages to invoke positivity and melancholy in equal measures. It is bare-boned love song that just happens to be in the form of electronica.

Silent Treatment is another song carries a beating heart as it oozes with yearning and euphoria whilst never dipping into mawkish sentimentality.

The wonder of World Eater does not lie solely in its high drama or raw-nerve emotions as it also displays a playfulness on the behalf of its creator. There's a glorious glam-rock stomp effect that rides through The Rat which bounces and struts whilst Naked harks back to 80's soundtracks.

This is a fully realised, emotive, thoroughly enjoyable album that shows that when in the right hands electronica can be more than just a backing to nights on a dancefloor. It (World Eater) is intelligent and soulful and warrants many many listens. 





World Eater can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp



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