★★★☆☆
Cardiac electro-techno plus neon-clawed dubstep equals jackhammer divided by piledriver. Finland’s Aku Raski appears to have done a Skrillex the other way round, now appealing to dance fans after serving those who bang heads at heavy metal balls. Parading synths and bass as a never-ending stockpile of weapons and issuing the newest warning that this be music that parents just don’t understand, mothers and fathers will be campaigning about Huratron’s lack of subtlety and (not unreasonably) shortage of skill. Creating luminously-powered destruction that sets off police and fire alarms – think of what the live performance must be like – this isn’t a technological meltdown, but the technology biting back.
The splutter and reload of “A699F” will turn brains mushy where dubstep listens to nu metal, but the likes of “Force Majeure” still fit into contemporary playlists. While coming at you from all angles, there’s a definite, not shine, but know-how forcing its way out of the underground, meaning it’s not that anti-social. “Bug Party” and “Dungeons and Dungeons” are gutter house for all fidget freaks, bassline sickos and those into the sound of lawnmowers being used as implement of discotheque torture, and the brilliantly named “Sea of Meat” does pure juggernauting dubstep. It’s perhaps the most memorable cut as it stays undistracted from its line of fire compared to the higgledy-piggledy 4×4 moshes.
File under: Atari Teenage Riot; Bloody Beetroots; Rednek