Released: 16th August 2019
Rating: ★★★
Benjamin John Power’s fourth album as Blanck Mass is an unforgiving aural assault on the senses. ‘Animated Violence Mild’ is a soundtrack for the end of the world.
It begins with the bludgeoning grandiose industrial techno throb of ‘Death Drop’ and it’s immediately clear that this a record that is stark, bracingly direct and entirely unconcerned with nuance, texture or beauty. These are dark, ugly times and this is a punishing and grim record to soundtrack it. This doesn’t make it any less thrilling though. Instead you’re frequently caught up in its post-apocalyptic fervour.
You can sort of discern the faintest of a pop hit in the sounds of tracks like ‘House Vs House’ but the whole record’s discombobulating hyperactivity renders all your senses slightly mangled.
Power has always been a fearless musician and yet again he pulls no punches with a bile-imbued electronic tour de force that destroys everything in its path.
Martyn Young
