Sunday, June 9, 2019

Author & Punisher - "Beastland" [2018]

Artist: Author & Punisher
Title: Beastland
Genre: Industrial Doom Metal
Country: USA
Year: 2018

Track List:
  1. Pharmacide
  2. Nihil Strength
  3. Ode to Bedlam
  4. The Speaker is Systematically Blown
  5. Nazarene
  6. Apparition
  7. Night Terror
  8. Beastland
Author & Punisher is an one-man industrial doom metal band from San Diego, that has been creating music since early 2004 but came to my attention only not long ago. The description of this album surely sounded quite interesting:
"Author & Punisher is an industrial doom and drone metal, one man band utilizing primarily custom fabricated machines/controllers and speakers called Drone/Dub Machines. The devices draw heavily on aspects of industrial automation, robotics and mechanical tools and devices, focusing on the eroticism of the interaction with machine...
Drawing inspiration from his career as a mechanical engineer, Tristan Shone (the creator and sole artist behind AUTHOR & PUNISHER) forged a relationship with design, sound, and fabrication that ultimately yielded his hand-built “Drone Machines” which mapped the journey away from traditional instrumentation towards custom made "precision machinery." A robotic experimentation in industrial metal, noise, doom and drone, AUTHOR & PUNISHER recalls Nine Inch Nails channeling Godflesh, traversing through dark, uncompromising, and often disturbing soundscapes with occasional detours into rich melodies and splinters of light. Armed with newly built “Drone Machines” and a new label, Beastland is AUTHOR & PUNISHER’s career-defining statement and a powerful listening experience that further blurs the line between man and machine"
Well, good industrial doom metal is definitely a rare beast, and Author & Punisher manages to do it good. While it doesn't sound quite like anything else, A&P reminds me of Zaraza (another obscure industrial doom act that deserves more attention) and La Torture des Ténèbres (not doom metal, but no less "inhuman" music). Like in case with "Memoirs of a Machine Girl" by LTDT, I'm not sure if I'm going to listen to "Beastland" once again any time soon, yet this album is surely worth checking out.

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