Helm

Luke Younger's Helm returns to PAN with four vital incursions marking his first new material since the sessions that birthed his acclaimed 'Impossible Symmetry' and 'Silencer' releases these last couple of years. Since those releases Younger has been hard at work building his Alter label into one of the most interesting imprints around whilst also honing a petrifying, improvised live set that's turned our bones to stone every time we've heard it. 'The Hollow Organ' delivers four tracks of spirit-grinding constructs gleaned from a visceral palette of tormented machine voices, sub-zero drones and rhythmic clangour. The EP's opening gambit, however, is the real standout here - sounding quite unlike anything we've heard from him before; it's practically his concession to ambient pop in the first stages, revolving around padded chords, vocal and Gas-like thrum before devolving into manic tape spool and dank electro-acoustic treatments. 'Analogues' follows with glinting rhythmic tape loops churning forth to a pitch black climax, while 'Spiteful Jester' sounds like malfunctioning machinery, a blood-letting of iron drones and clanking percussion, before the title track finishes the EP off with a 10-minute drone piece that acts as a catharsis of sorts. What's so good about this material is that it holds so much back - there are moments that feel made for an obvious drop or a percussive blowout, but Younger keeps it taut to the end, the tension never quite abating.