British techno producer
Metrist (Joe Higgins) seems to get more twisted with each release, and his 2016 LP on Black Opal is a gritty, thrilling set of tracks that have a dark, biting sense of humor. The album's jagged, blown-out beats are typically cloaked in hiss, and they're joined by tense, distorted synth pads. The tracks seem designed to disrupt and confuse, unpredictably erupting with feedback and echo and slipping into off-time rhythms. One of the tracks is titled "Knights of the Templar, Here Comes Neil," and it may as well be an homage to Scottish wonky techno legend
Neil Landstrumm. Opener "Petrol Arses" is riddled by a computer voice rapidly spitting out numbers and letters, and the track never sits still, shifting rhythms and constantly interrupting with noise blasts. "Sundried Man" is even more unhinged, and sounds like it could be a more lo-fi, hardware-based take on an
Autechre track. Closing track "That Prick I Hate" is fittingly aggressive and steely, but it still seems to hobble around sideways rather than directly attack. Even with its more nihilistic tendencies, the album isn't really that threatening or disturbing; rather, it's just exciting, creative, weird techno. ~ Paul Simpson