After taking a bit of a break to do other things, Jason Hendardy reactivated his band Permanent Collection and resurfaced in 2020 with a self-titled album of dark shoegaze, monochromatic dream pop, and murky psych-punk. Working alone instead with a band -- as he did on the previous album, 2012's slept-on Newly Wed Nearly Dead -- Hendardy conjures up a gloomy and emotionally wracked version of shoegaze that almost verges on molten metal at times. The tempos push ahead like a nagging headache, the guitars are staticky blobs of noise, his vocals are treated to sound metallic and painfully human at once, and the songs are claustrophobic puzzles that twist and turn back on themselves until they are tied in sharp little knots of pain and frustration. It's not exactly easy to listen to, especially when there's no space to breathe and every song is the aural equivalent of a tiny room where the walls are closing in slowly but surely. Hendardy makes it work by never taking his heavy foot off the gas pedal and keeping the intensity cranked up into the deep red all the way through the record. Once it gets to around track seven or so, it's clear that the album isn't going to let up until all that's left of the listener is a bulldozer-flattened crisp. It might even pick up a bit, as "Breakaway" is one of the record's most insistent and brutal songs, and the tracks that follow don't lag far behind in either category. When so much contemporary shoegaze seems focused on soft and expansive arrangements that are perfect soundtracks for sweet dreams, it's nice -- or at least a change of pace -- to have someone filled with anger and disillusion come along to skillfully craft something that's much gloomier and angrier than expected. This is not music for anyone seeking escape, this is music that's painfully reflective of the world it was recorded in and Hendardy's seemingly fraught mental state. If you're looking to dive headfirst into the abyss and swim around in the roiling depths, though, Permanent Collection might be just the ticket.