ALBUM REVIEW: Putrid | Obsolete – Prisoner
Formed in Richmond, Virginia in 2012, PRISONER first made their mark with their 2017 debut album Beyond The Infinite, which attracted acclaim thanks to its crushing blend of metallic hardcore and industrial noise. Seven years later and the band are finally ready to release the follow-up Putrid | Obsolete and take that infernal combination of extreme metal and noise to the next level.
Track one Flesh Dirge begins with stabs of distorted industrial rhythm as human (and some possibly inhuman) cries and howls echo in the background, detuned guitars occasionally accompanying the chaos. Two minutes later and the first verse proper kicks in, settling into a pounding, coruscating blend of industrial beats and death-doom riffs, the intensity not letting up for a second. Adding to the monstrous cacophony set down by the rhythm section, a trio of screaming, growling, desperate-sounding vocalists only build upon the visceral nature of the whole experience that PRISONER present across the eight tracks on offer here. The vocal attack is both immediate and relentless and helps to lift the whole album away from comparison with other bands in the genre.
After the sample-heavy, industrial opening, the band does an about-turn on track two, Pool Of Disgust. As if to prove their metal credentials aside from their ability to innovate and push boundaries with technology, this is two brutal minutes of pure old school death metal, with nods to grindcore masters NAPALM DEATH at the furious climax.
Album highlight Shroud adds an almost symphonic, blackened metal approach to things. Clocking in at just under six minutes, this feels like a real journey in modern extreme metal while still burying its twisted roots in the best of the past. Here, the band progress through AT THE GATES-influenced opening passages to an epic, stomping, doom-laden middle eight, before the final blackened two minutes close things out perfectly. A special mention here too for an incredible performance from drummer Joel Hansen on this one.
Lead single Leaden Tomb again begins with a grim industrial soundscape before pounding forth into furious grindcore-infused verses and apocalyptic sludgy, doom-filled choruses. The lyrical themes explored on this song, as well as the rest of the album, sit well alongside the music, touching as they do on the idea that the world is on the brink of a dystopian collapse, led in many ways by humanity’s use of technology. Leaden Tomb soundtracks this impending apocalypse all too well.
The final three songs on the album, starting with eight-minute epic Pathogenesis, see PRISONER venture into more experimental territory and, as a result, the momentum built up by the onslaught that has come before this point is slightly lost. Whilst the crushing atmosphere is still very much present, the extended sections of samples and electronics sometimes feel a little too meandering.
Final track Nanodeath takes a more melodic, almost post-rock approach to its composition. Whilst still showcasing the band’s brutality in parts, the epic quality of this song, minus the extended sample-heavy sections, make for a really satisfying conclusion to the album as a whole. The second half is thick with Terminator-style atmosphere and you can’t help but picture a bleak and barren world taken over by machines, as the final synths fade out.
Like a doomier combination of NAPALM DEATH and GODFLESH, PRISONER have produced an innovative and crushingly heavy second album that is unrelenting in its grim vision of the future. If the band can continue to refine and focus their use of samples and electronics then no doubt greater (and grimmer) things await.
Rating: 8/10
Putrid | Obsolete is set for release on March 15th via Persistent Vision Records.
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