Bleep

Everything about Murder Ballads (Drift) suggests that industrial music has a shadow history quite distinct from its all-cylinders barrage of factory-grade beatings. Don’t let Mick Harris’ grindcore credentials fool you (even if he did apparently coin the term during his time with Napalm Death); the menacing throng of electronic ambient possesses a Coil-like dark magick all its own. Each extended number on the record is led by the glossolalic storytelling of Eyeless In Gaza’s Martyn Bates, whose vocal recalls Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis and David Sylvian in its ability to call forth from the abyss fluid, multi-coloured dreams.