Band:	Pharmakon
Album:	Maggot Mass
Style:	Death Industrial, Noise, Power Electronics
Release date:	October 04, 2024
A review by:	RaduP

01. Wither And Warp
02. Methanal Doll
03. Buyer's Remorse
04. Splendid Isolation
05. Oiled Animals

Pharmakon returning after a five year hiatus with a concept album is really cool, but didn't she sense that by naming her previous albums Abandon, Bestial Burden, Contact, and Devour, she created a Morbid Angel-esque naming pattern that was just broken?

Alright, perhaps "Earth Mass" wouldn't have had the same ring to it as "Maggot Mass", especially given the album's themes and concept. The description in the Bandcamp page explains it better than I ever could, but it's basically about humanity's relationship to nature and how we've broken that bond. And to really sell the imagery of it, it argues that, from an ecosystem point of view, maggots are more useful than humans because they pollinate rather than pollute. It's an assessment that is hard to argue with, and also a very specific theme that does give Maggot Mass a more conceptual nature, one that has always worked especially well for the project given Pharmakon's use of and reliance on vocals and lyrics.

Pharmakon's take on noise has always been a bit peculiar. Harsh but not harsh noise per se, and her use of vocals often took her closer to death industrial. The noise music with vocals isn't anything new, yet there did feel like there was something specific in the aesthetic and sonic anguish that was perpetrated. Some sort of intense discomfort that could only come from Margaret Chardiet's own experience. Even without reinventing the wheel, there was a reason why Pharmakon ended up being a point of entry for many into these harsher music territories, and especially metalheads searching for the thrill of extremity, as was my experience having never heard shrieks as anguished and blood curling as the ones on "Body Betrays Itself" on Bestial Burden. But extremity isn't always the name of the game, and Maggot Mass does shift things up a bit.

For one, the vocal performance has less in the form of shrieks, even if they're not exactly removed (see "Oiled Animals"), instead opting for an almost shamanistic sermon as a vibe, something that fits well with the conceptual nature of the record. Sonically it is also quite atmosphere focused, sometimes taking a lot from drone music, but also having more driving rhythms that focus a lot on bass and that border on some punk/industrial in the vein of Uniform, and one where the noise moves from being either an extra texture or something akin to an overwhelming swarm. The focus on atmosphere over a more immediate extremity does make the 30-minutes-ish runtime that is common course for a Pharmakon feel even shorter than it actually is.

I forgive Margaret for breaking my imagined naming convention pattern, but if the next album starts with an "F" I'm gonna be so pissed.