(03.15.07) Finally Dev/Null’s first album lands on Cock Rock Disco, but we’re not told the reason why it’s more than a year late. Anyway, if you have ever come across a Dev/null track, you should instantly recognize his style that could be easily described as editcore or skipcore: loops are accelerated and rewound, there are sudden jumps from a break to another, with harsh drums coming from nowhere and disappearing like phantoms. “Hiphop2” actually cheats on you, beginning with a simple texture before morphing hip-hop into a savage mess of sliced beats. Once started, the sound mangling won’t let you breathe fot the entire record, racing faster and faster and drowning into these rhythmic jungle 8-bit melodies (“Real Ultimate Power”), horror-like soundtracks (“Goblin”), soft keyboards (“Track 7”) and even an epic surrounding full of strings (the more than beautiful “Banal Universe”).
Lazer Thrash is indeed breakcore to the bone, because tons of drums compose the very skeletor of the whole record, but at the same time marks a shift from the lightspeed accelerated rave of the previous 230 BPM Eternal on Tigerbeat6, described by a friend of mine as “The Prodigy experience at twice speed.” There’s only the track “I’d Rather Mainline Preperation H…” that recalls some hardcore nostalgia, while the rest of the record is more melodic, or at least more instrumental, similarly to what happened for Slepcy: their past output on Ambush was a wall of noise, whereas their latest We Are The Newest Battle Models (on Cock Rock Disco, again) shows a surprising playful side of unheard complexity.
Jason Forrest’s label is giving space to many talented under appreciated musicians, and Dev/Null’s debut has been one of the most anticipated for ages; those who know him from the vinyls and compilation tracks will love this broadening of influences and flavors. If you’re into this little niche of frantic beat editing, there are also two new Terminal 11 albums on Phthalo and Hymen Records (review soon), so it’s your time to rejoice.
Lazer Thrash is out now on Cock Rock Disco. Buy it at Amazon.com.
