Couple of quick mentions for the new Pain Appendix full length on Freak Animal: This thing is a beast. Junk metal but in short, sharp bursts and presented in a very "PE" way. This project feels very focussed and deliberately assembled, but I may just be projecting order onto chaos.
Sick Seed- Do the Wrong Thing Very classic-sounding PE which is almost minimal in its approach. Vocals are used sparingly (e: although perhaps more than I realised, often buried in the mix). I'm probably not explaining this very well, but if Power Play felt sharp, this one is more like being stuffed into a burlap sack and beaten. I love the motif of "no guilt, no shame, no regret, do the wrong thing forever." A very confident and satisfying release.
Got the new Contortus on the turntable now. How is each successive release from this act better than the last? The record sounds fantastic and is very heavy duty. The quality across that particular March 2026 FA batch of SSRI, BU, Night Wolf, Cov Ops and Contortus is frankly insane. The first batch from a label in a while where I have wanted to pick up all of it.
