Lines Describing Circles (vinyl)

Over the past year as Peder Mannerfelt has shed the skin of The Subliminal Kid, we've only had small samples to taste of his new brand of musical sorcery. "Lines Describing Circles" changes all of that. Ten tracks deep, this is not so much an album as it is a declaration. From the opening, harrowing crackle of "Collapsion," Mannerfelt's intent is to crush the listener into a perfect, metal cube.

"Lines Describing Circles," like the EP before it, is laser-focused. It's the sound of a man fully in control of his machines. Throughout the album, though, there are respites. The title track settles into a hypnotic groove while a simple, infectious melody repeats into the darkness. This is music you'll hear at a club after the end of the world. "In Place Of Once Was" has a melody lurking, too, but it's constantly overwhelmed by sub-bass nihilism. Mannerfelt presents the small bit of light as an illusion, knowing full well that by this point we're all wrecked.

This is heavy music, but not without purpose. As sequencers compete in unison on "Alpha Waves," there's a hint at the real meaning of "Lines Describing Circles." Mannerfelt is searching for truth through electronic escapism and he's willing to take down anyone in his path to do it. "Gulo Gulo Caesitas" is the pinnacle of the firestorm. Cacaphonous beats pummel into submission while feedback and seemingly endless layers of aural mayhem rain down like sonic acid rain.

As the computerized voice repeats "Barren" over and over on "Evening Redness In The West," the end becomes a myth. There is no horizon left to long for. There is no blood left to bleed. Peder Mannerfelt's transformation complete, he is off to find new trails to blaze as the melancholic pads of "Rotterdam Anagram" are obscured by distorted filth. Everyone rejoice.
credits
released 03 March 2014

Mastered and cut by Stefan Betke.

https://soundcloud.com/the-subliminal-kid/sets/lines-describing-circles