- Walloping industrial techno at refreshingly mid-paced tempos that really let it sink in.
- Adam Mitchell has been making the hardest techno around for literal decades, and yet he never seems to tire of reaching for new heights—and his music loses none of its lustre with age. (Anyone who has seen him DJ recently will tell you that he can sound downright scary, in a different, more visceral way than eyounger hard techno DJs.) In Maeghan Donovan, AKA Maedon, who he signed to his Sonic Groove label in 2019, he's found a foil and sparring partner, another person who can take the lithe attack of EBM and classic industrial music and fuse it techno in ways that feel new and vital.
The Lion & The Ram is their first collaboration together, and it comes with a certain weight, landing on Tresor in the middle of the 30 year-old label's latest hot streak. But instead of combining forces to make the most brutal techno possible, Mitchell and Donovan streamline their approach for a sleek and aerodynamic LP whose macho excesses are tempered by excellent synth work, creative song structures and—perhaps most importantly—medium-paced tempos that let every steel-toed kick really set in.
You can feel the difference from the outset with "Breathe It In," whose prickly march feels borrowed from both KMFDM and classic-era Ministry, and whose vocal hook—"Everywhere you go / You breathe it in, breathe it in"—adds a certain paranoid sheen. Vocals pop up here and there on the album, from the slightly goofy "Welcome to the land of fuck!" barked on the otherwise brutal "Corrupt Pigs" to the almost comforting Invasion Of The Body Snatchers sample on "Human Replacements," which leans into some of the genre's most beloved clichés without resorting to irony.
"Human Replacements" is a good track to dissect in order explain the album's appeal: the kick drums are lithe instead of leaden (though still pretty heavy), the arpeggios brittle and bleepy, the basslines wiggly. It's playful and funky, and plays tricks with the quantized grid, so it doesn't feel like you're listening to a loop for six minutes. Other tracks like "Subterranean Caverns" and "Psychic Vultures" have sudden left turns or eruptions of melody that make them feel volatile, almost dangerous, which is the LP's greatest lesson. Really hard techno doesn't just stay in one place, and can move beyond the monotonous death march without losing any steam.
Packed with distorted horns, piston-powered kick drums and other anvil-sized instruments (check out the almost absurdly gut-punching percussion on "Subliminal Messages"), The Lion & The Ram can come off a bit cartoonish, but that plays to its strengths. This is dynamic and powerful techno that replaces all-black-clad posturing with a real sense of fun, even at its most snarling. That's what makes it a rung above so much other industrial techno, because it beckons you in instead of merely bludgeoning. Take a listen to the closer "When It All Ends" and try not to get caught up in its staccato bassline and militant kick drum. It's a little belligerent, sure, but together the rhythm section and melodic leads combine into something irresistible, with a kind of excitable momentum you just can't fake.
Tracklist01. Breathe It In
02. Subterranean Caverns
03. Psychic Vulture
04. Caged Animal
05. Buckle Up
06. Corrupt Pigs
07. Human Replacements
08. Subliminal Messages
09. When It All Ends