Stepping out of Australia's outback with a vengeance, Black Lung adds a bloody new chapter to his towering discography. A composer whose talent is rivalled only by his uncommon production techniques, David Thrussell applies a whole new recipe to his beats, noises and glitches on "The First Tender Cut" (and the accompanying "Soul Consumer" CD"). Darkly playful, twistedly uplifting, noisily organic, this album is a ride as wild as the sessions that saw its inception.
Black Lung, the toxic, towering and almost two decades old project of David Thrussell (also known for his material as Snog and Soma, as well as his soundtracks for films and theatre play), has never been as perilous as on "The Soul Consumer". Following some very talked about the commissioned work on his previous album, David Thrussell, who is never one to repeat a formula, took tremendous measures to record and create this new album. "Organic", you say? You might not know how right you are.
David Thrussell has always been a particular figure in the electronic music scene: mixing the acid wave with pounding hard techno in the 90's, exposing his delicate sound installations at the turn of the millennium, before voicing his sharp social critique as Snog. Long time fans should therefore not be surprised that Black Lung's first album for Ad Noiseam is again something very different and unruly.
Fleshy, butchered, dripping, festive and sombre at times: Black Lung intends at consuming your soul as it might have consumer your body. Might it be with the faux joyfulness of "The First Tender Cut" and "Sapphic Trysts And Burnt Lips" on the A side or the heavy remixes of the B side (Matta twisting their tracks into a dubstep monster, and frequent Black Lung-collaborator Sir Real giving his a certain detroit feel), this record reflects well the deranged mindset in which David Thrussell found himself while recording this album. The melodies cut through the skin, the beats twist the muscles, the basses cut through the pith and the samples bite the arteries, and this all throughout the record.
