Published by Davide Pappalardo on April 30, 2016
Manunkind are a Russian duo, namely from Moscow, formed in 2015 by Eugene Gin and Dee Grinski dedicated to abrasive death industrial sounds, giving space to hard beats and power electronics elements. They prefer a rigorous, direct, and violent approach as in the best tradition of the genre (think of the fiercest MZ.412 and names like Brighter Death Now), combining even martial moments with filtrated screams and industrial mantras of murderous nature.
They present themselves to the public with the limited cassette of the same name published by Materia Productions, an EP composed of four tracks that represent their music, maybe not innovative, but certainly strong and enthralling for lovers of the most violent and compelling industrial sound. The lyrical and musical themes are in fact the ones dear to the tradition of the genre, including modern ritualism, extreme violence, social aberrations, and all the tools borrowed from names such as Whitehouse and the groups mentioned above.
Acéphale (the name of the magazine created by the French philosopher Georges Bataille at the end of the thirties of the last century, and of his vision linked to Nietzsche‘s thinking) is a worthy introduction, characterized by a dark ambient movement with ceremonial tones, soon violated by noises and pounding beats from a relentless drum machine which stuns us with its repeated blows, while inhuman screams are repeated in an eternal nightmare; not surprisingly the conclusion is entrusted to abrasive distortions, which want to do everything but rejoice us. The grave for 500,000 soldiers welcomes us with an almost cosmic sound, which envelops a tension ready to free itself, while distant vocals show up as ghosts in the fog. Inevitable are the rhythmic crescendo and the creeping synths, which keeps growing until we have an industrial cinematic explosion (characterized by a sound not dissimilar to the one of the Swedish project Trepaneringsritualen), where an anti-melody enchants us until the end, which is once again characterized by an impenetrable and chaotic mantra.
When the first human being wants to sleep is characterized from the start by swirling catchy synths combined with brilliant factory-like sounds. Then we have mechanical attacks that evoke a locomotive without control, showing once again the taste of the duo for exciting sound structures, interspersed with slowdowns and emphasized by vocal verses in the distance, filtered and rendered inhuman. The final song The fifth Κάνωβος (translated as The fifth Canopus, both a star, both an ancient Egyptian city dedicated to extravaganza and perversions, and even the name of the jars used by Egyptian to preserve the organs of the dead) greets us with deafening loops, soon accompanied by heavily filtered ceremonial vocals, creating a structured and increasingly hostile noise characterized by abrasive sounds. A more power electronics-related episode which give us a perfect ending to this short but intense example of violent anti-music, at the same time fascinating and compelling.
A very interesting debut, where we find various references to the tradition of the most violent and ritual death industrial sound; maybe the most jaded listeners will easily recognize the various influences here presented, and it’s true that nothing here revolutionize the genre of reference, but that does not stop us from enjoying a well-reasoned and structured songwriting, able to give direction to the noise elements, offering rhythmic mercilessly assaults. If you love this kind of (anti)music, this work is strongly recommended.
Label: Materia Productions
Rating: 7,5