All the best scary movies carry warnings like ‘Not for the faint of heart’. The same advisory could and should be applied to the eleven dark tunes on this download only release.
If you care to dare, it is available through Liverpool’s Viper Label which Floatation Project’s Paul Hemmings set up in 1999 with Mike Badger. Both these men are best known for their roles in ‘The La’s’ but do not expect any jangly feel-good pop here.
Annihilation is well named. The musical carnage it evokes is a rumination on the conflicts and destruction in our fucked up world. The fact that all but one of the tracks are instrumentals should not lull listeners into any false sense of security. The energy summoned up is menacing and sinister.
Take the chugging motorik of Death Train which would serve as a soundtrack to a spine-tingling chase sequence and channels the hidden reverse of Pink Floyd’s ‘One of these days’.
The title track is the only one to feature vocals. These are courtesy of Tommy Scott who is evidently on the same wavelength since he once described the music for his band 'Space' as ”queasy listening”. Scott’s collaboration with 'Floatation Project' inspired an earlier single with the memorable title ‘I’m in love with a girl from a Japanese horror movie.’
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Satellites Circling the Earth and Confused State of Mind both tap into the mood of Bowie’s Low period not least for the Robert Fripp style guitars on the former. Invasion of the Invisible Marching Army is built around an industrial pulse to conjure up a perpetual sense of unease.
Other nightmarish details come with the two-minute noise squall of Terminal and the ghostly one-minute Lost Announcement. The album closes with the ominously titled Dying Embers.
Take this trip if you dare.
Available to download from Viper Label store
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