Year after their second release, German duo Operant once again return to their imprint Instruments Of Discipline with a third offering of sounds that peak high in the line of forward-thinking industrial electronics. Harnessed To Flesh constitutes a five-track EP ranging from musique concrète to a neat blend of rhythmic noise, waves that turn from relatively tranquil to downright eviscerating on a moment's notice and expand our notion of what can be achieved with modern sound design.

    A composition of drone—if we had to brand it—Also To The Inorganic World gradually immerses the listener into a spiralling descent down the Inferno Ave, scored to movement of tectonic plates and a guitar that got broken and apparently ended up in hell for having witnessed its owner commit things most despicable; scarce kicks featured here are more of an attention reclaim then a constant, but when they strike it does feel as though a meteor has landed nearby.

    Follower Be A Boy comes off as a more reflective continuation of a previous piece, adorned with airy choral singing, unsuppressed exhalations and practically unintelligible soliloquy interwoven in it firmly—but wait, a little belated and a little off-balanced, out of nowhere join in the jackhammering kicks and immediately wreak havoc as far as waves reach, and then just as abruptly take off—wherefore?—to suddenly elevate the pace of another calmly flowing track, presumably.

    The next work greets us with ASMR-inducing whispers, serenely sizzling aside what resembles a recording of someone quietly going through keepsakes in the attic, but the serenity of the scene is soon overshadowed by a slowly emerging layer of meanly imposing, ill-natured ambiance; eventually, the escalation reaches a peak and Chancellory bursts with syncopated, marvelous soft drums and pads pertaining to dub techno.

    Unexpectedly then, from the high-reaching flames comes the blood-boiling, dreadfully potent 138 BPM body instigator The Sacrifice Of Meaning For Power, laden with indiscernible and often plainly decimated vocals bits, dense mixture of noise and distorted ambiance, perforated through and through with ravaging, explosive 4/4 kicks that are smartly alternated with strategically placed, one-off signature-breaks and beat-skips, allowing the drums to spike harder and harder after each short halt, much in the manner of a spanking paddle, drilled for aerodynamic holes so that the strikes can be that much more... indoctrinating.

    The last number opens with synthesized voices seemingly narrating a medical brochure against a soothing ambient backdrop—which gives a brief hope for peaceful closure, but this one is quick to flip the page, shred the fucking book to bits in a split second and thus reveal its real colors: Dead Realities VIII is a ravish assault on nervous system executed at 160 BPM in a form of gabber-redolent, tyrannizing across all spectrum—but particularly at low-range—scourging rendition of aural destructivity that ends with an intense wall of droning and stretched-out, haunting howl that resembles none of such at the last leg of its journey through lacerating filters. Exhale.

Release Type: EP

Release Date: 12 February 2018

Release Format: Digital • Vinyl

Record Label • Catalog: Instruments Of Discipline • IOD027

Purchase Links: Bandcamp • Beatport • Junodownload • Boomkat