Author & Punisher - Beastland (2018)^{Release ID: 34473}

Originality sometimes spawns from ONE MAN... Tristan Shone has his one-man project Author & Punisher in which he is both them musician and engineer. He even has his own instruments made by himself! Cohesive music is formulated from Tristan's machine beasts of Hell.

I wouldn't say Beastland is the best industrial noise/metal album I've heard, but it's a d*mn excellent unique offering. It's not just adding 8-bit beeps and screams to the sounds of apocalypse. I'm talking about greatness that can be heard from the instruments Tristan created using his hands and tools. The writing and atmosphere are quite memorable, considering its vibe of bleakness and disarray.

Noise overpowers the music in the dark opening track "Pharmacide". The more electrifying "Nihil Strength" has some great emotion. The instrumentation in "Ode to Bedlam" is heavier and more disturbing, reach beyond industrial boundaries.

"The Speaker is Systematically Blown" drags you back and forth until you're in a daze. The melodic "Nazarene" sounds quite cool, but it ends abruptly. A bit disappointing, and the album would've been perfect if that didn't happen and instead went on for another minute. "Apparition" combines the melody of the previous track with more of the earlier heavy noise, and that's the kind of blend I like.

Then we come into two 6-minute epics, starting with "Night Terror" which has a lot of what the album has so far. It's only surpassed by the other epic, the closing title track, which ends it all in beastly destruction.

So the abrupt ending of one of the songs is the only truly fatal mistake. Tell that to those who think industrial noise/metal can cause headaches and brain aneurysms. Well sure it's not pleasant for many people, but it is for me. You need to have lots of experience with extreme genres from both industrial and metal to appreciate this outstanding writing. If you can survive sitting through this entire album that is practically noise pollution if played without headphones, then congrats. You have conquered the beast!

Favorites: "Nihil Strength", "Ode to Bedlam", "Apparition", "Beastland"