Solythode maintains an unrelenting presence, often opening with uneasy ambient-noise structures before expanding toward the outer edges of mechanical rhythms and threaded bass lines that seem to operate just outside our galaxy.
Industrial braindance and fractured electronic textures
Their initial self-titled collaboration, tagged as “a seriously tough and targeted collection of harsher electronics” in 2023, seared through dense soundscapes. Their latest effort, titled Solythode—yet another spoonerism—sees both Cathode Ray Tube (CRT, aka Chang Terhune) and Solypsis (aka James Miller) working through ten tracks of industrial braindance and fractured electronic textures.
A breakbeat pulse drives opener “Planet Downer,” while melodic blips and bleeps in “Plague Zone” push Cathopsis’ tone toward soundtrack-like passages and clustered crevasses, eventually locking into heavier techno-industrial thuds midway through. Dub-infested glitch elements cut through “Ghilie Suit Dub,” where broken beats form a dysfunctional whole, with an illbient power-noise sheen pushing the track forward into increasingly distorted territory. A serious powerhouse.
Solythode maintains an unrelenting presence, often opening with uneasy ambient-noise structures before expanding toward the outer edges of mechanical rhythms and threaded bass lines that seem to operate just outside our galaxy. “Chrome Under Dark” stands out, its technoid undercurrent tempered just enough to keep ears and attention fixed on what might emerge next.
Closing pieces, including the thudding ultra-bass march of “Chyron Prophet” and the crepuscular broken rhythm of “New Dreams,” make it clear that both Terhune and Miller are comfortable generating momentum from darkness. Working from opposing sides of an un-United States, Solythode is another mind-bending collection of hard-edged electronic and industrial IDM material, well suited to carrying us through increasingly treacherous times. Fans of Displacer, Xanopticon, Orphx, and Antigen Shift should take notice.
Solythode is available on Component. [Bandcamp]
