Prurient

This eagerly awaited new LP from Prurient begins with a blood-curdling scream - but thereafter all expectations are defied. If like us you've always been fascinated by the more reflective, electronic side of Dominick Fernow's catalogue - thus far restricted to the odd album track, his work with Cold Cave and a couple of choice side projects - then all your Christmases have come at once. Reportedly inspired by long drives around mainland Europe listening to minimal techno, Bermuda Drain pulsates with sequenced electronic menace from the off, and is the first Prurient record to pack bass heft to match his customary treble assault. While Fernow's vocals have always been central to the Prurient project, they're usually barely audible beneath the punishing swathes of feedback; here they come to the fore, sounding more vulnerable and more powerful than ever before, if occasionally a touch comical (for all the cathartic force of delivery, his lyric about wanting to "take a tree branch and ram it inside you" on 'Palm Tree Corpse' is liable to raise a smile). Sniggers aside, some of the best and most accessible music Fernow's ever recorded can be found on this album: the title track is a masterful bit of post-apocalytic ambient, reminding us of that Stars Explode split with Cold Cave, but less clogged, more vividly realised. Bold, original and astonishingly well-produced throughout, Bermuda Drain really is a new peak in Prurient's prolific career; noise fascists might turn their nose up at its synth-pop mannerisms, but for the rest of us it's a welcome twist in the tale. From the cinematic minimal wave of 'Many Jewel Surrounds The Crown', through the snotty electro thrash of 'A Meal Can Be Made' and the coruscating industrial noise of 'Watch Silently', this is an album that surprises and stimulates at every turn; hell, 'Let's Make A Slave' could almost - almost - be Detroit techno. (boomkat)