Pharmakon
, the alias of noise artist
Margaret Chardiet
, is one of the more visceral and intense acts of the post-2000s noise landscape. With her fifth album,
Maggot Mass
,
Chardiet
continues the grueling, tortured style of industrialized clatter and the dense walls of sludge of her earlier records, but also introduces some barely perceptible hints of traditional musicality. "Wither and Warp" churns out over a slow, minimal pulse and a distorted bassline which becomes increasingly surrounded by a swarm of metallic sounds and
's tormented vocals. Lyrical themes on
revolve largely around the disconnect between capitalism and humanity, and "Methanal Doll" laments how money poisons every aspect of lived experience from birth the grave. Musically, the song is still a smear of dark, angry noise, but buried beneath the menace and writhing is something that resembles a song structure, however bathed in distortion it might be.
is singing verses and choruses at some points on
, even delivering some lyrics in traditional rhyme schemes, all of which is new territory for
. There's still more screaming than singing, and more catharsis than structure. "Buyer's Remorse" is a demonic anti-capitalist blast free of form, and even when a vaguely programmed rhythm and an ugly loop repeat on "Splendid Isolation," suggesting some kind of discernible patterns, it all gets swallowed in dissonance before any real shape gets established. To call
accessible would be a reach, but it is the
album where
embraces clarity to a new degree, retaining the project's bristly power and shedding a layer of sonic obscurity to magnify its harshness. ~ Fred Thomas