Synthetic Noize: The Cursed Species
Most of the greatest figures from the original wave of artists referred to as “breakcore” have dropped the recurring gimmicks of this genre, in order to “hybridize” their complex broken rhythmic patterns with other major musical forms. And it’s a good thing that they did, as it would quickly have become tedious. Of course, hopes were high with CDATAKILL. With “Paradise”, they had focused on darkness and (a demanding) fury, and created an epic and magnificent album which was already moving on from the standards of breakcore. “Brazilian Nightmare” was a long, arrhythmic, dark ambient and introspective drone, which fully revealed the versatile virtuosity of Zak Roberts . “The Cursed Species” explores new territories again. Without any doubt, CDATAKILL has reached a new maturity. Complex rhythms constitute of course the core of this creation, an elaborate exoskeleton supporting finely crafted compositions. Listen closely and repeatedly to a gem like “Reclamation song”: the falsely binary beat intensifies and coils into round bass, as you’re being hypnotized by haunting, repetitive scrolls of sounds, and on the last part of the track, just when you’re beginning to assume that the deed’s done, some sampled Arabic chanting gives the song its second wind, still more hypnotic: what astonishing skill this shows. Without a single trace of pretence, this track, in its evolution and conclusion (infinity suggested through tenacious threnody), is a model of its kind. By the way, what would Muslimgauze have sounded like nowadays? This track might very well give us a good idea of it. Another significant instance is « predatory behaviour », which takes us miles away from the usual clichés of the genre. What kind of alchemy does miraculously hold this monumental masterpiece together, with its spiralled beats continuously hopping onwards, its old school drones, and its (falsely) lo-fi but so enthralling sound? This title is in fact a real pandemonium, an infernal Pandora box which viciously locks around your senses. The variety of sounds used to create this album also participates in the unique identity of CDATAKILL. One could well be tempted to reduce these to being simply old-school, but can the act of leaving behind the current glitch and electronica tones be termed old school? In this case the answer is clearly “no”, and we can doubtlessly state that far from dealing with some long extinct creature, we’re facing a rare, bizarre and hybrid species, as suggested by Aurélien Police’s splendid artwork.
