After outings on Haunter & Arboretum Davide Carbone reprises his role as Honzo, this time returning to where his shadowy alter ego first surfaced—3TH—for a first LP proper.

    Determined to get your fix but penniless, you approach the dealer from behind... disorientating frenetic keys replicate your elevated heart rate. Snatching the gear from his pocket you head off into the crowds, but now everything seems to be happening at half speed. More layers of percussion start hammering at your senses as a deep droning vocal comes into focus—the yells of your pursuer and his henchmen? You quickly pop some pills and move on. Instinct takes over as you run from the merciless killers, it's okay though, you know these streets better than they do. Rumbling kicks provide the energy whilst shots of acid keep you alert, as you navigate the dark and dingy inner city. Slow down now, you shook them off, catch your breath as you climb aboard the beaten-up, old metro train heading back to central. Thudding bass drums and the clatter of metal on metal make for an uncomfortable ride, but there is some respite—elongated synths wash over the second half of the track, offering a little hope.

    Trepidation envelopes you as you arrive back in the city a marked man. The atmosphere is contemplative, punctuated by occasional stabs of noise and rumbling sub bass, but it doesn't last; menacing sprawling keys infest the remainder of the track, as a restless paranoia sets in. Overstimulated, you take to a side alley for cover—big mistake! Amplified and distorted, computer noise abrasively bashes and bumps along, flip-flopping one way then the next, like the limp lifeless carcass of another hopeless victim, pummeled to death in a suicide booth. You walk down the next alley and find a comfortable pile of garbage bags to rest your ass on.

    Pulsing digital noise and a lonesome reverberating beat is tempered by fractured melodic pads that are haunting, yet soothing. Your skin starts to tingle as the pills kick in, and suddenly, you're in a different world. Ingested toxins flow through the bloodstream and your synaptic response is reduced considerably, instilling a feeling of dread. This is a slow-motion trip from hell, the bleak mutated tech-hop has real plasticity where one sound seems to bend and stretch into the next—it'll have your stomach in knots. As you come round it's obvious that day is about to break. High frequency tones are at first quite pleasant, but as you rise to your feet they become squeezed and compressed, compounding your already dazed and confused state; as you stagger hastily toward home through the partially illuminated concrete maze, it plays as a soundtrack to the sunrise (albeit a pretty bleak one).

    As the title would suggest, Distopia is one hell of a journey into a grimey, uncertain near-future. Not meant for the faint hearted, it is dark, disturbing and without compromise. Blood-curdling technoise abstractions don't get any better than this, and I for one hope that Carbone keeps Honzo alive for a while longer yet.

Release Type: Album

Release Date: 16 May 2017

Release Format: Digital • Cassette

Record Label • Catalog: 3TH Records • 3THCC02

Purchase Links: Bandcamp • Juno • HHV • Triple Vision • Deejay