On
Daze, London-based producer
Brood Ma (
James B. Stringer) constructs a punishing, darkened soundscape that is aurally equivalent to the most intense Hollywood action films or shoot-em-up video games. The entire continuously flowing 27-minute release feels like being in the center of a particularly fast-moving, violent first-person RPG, with explosions and hit point-draining sneak attacks at every corner. The majority of the album's 13 tracks have a brief running time, but they each pack in an alarming number of ideas, building up complex scenarios of skittering beats before blowing them apart at the next turn with laser blasts and shuddering bass. "Well Equipped" buries a melting, unsteady melody in ticking electro beats and exploding audio shrapnel, and the jittery "Hard Wear" quickens the pulse even further. "Molten Brownian Motion" is the album's gripping centerpiece, with accelerating tones shielding the rushing snares and adding to the track's hyper-focused trance-like velocity. This abruptly dovetails into the slower, more blown-out "Sex Compressor," and the album continues shifting gears and jumping through portals at a stunning rate. Following a few tracks that flirt with choppy breakbeats and manipulated cyber-vocals, the album ends with an extended version of "Nrg Jynx," a beastly, grinding industrial track that appeared on
Brood Ma's previous album, 2014's Populous. Compared to that release and his 2012 debut Fission,
Daze is an astounding leap forward, harnessing an overwhelming amount of energy and transforming it into an arsenal of sonic warfare. The album also feels like it's the beginning of what could become a lengthy saga, with many additional battles to come. ~ Paul Simpson