(This is Todd Manning‘s review of Prisoner‘s sophomore album, due for release on March 15th by Persistent Vision Records.)
While certainly not the first to combine metal with industrial influences, Richmond-based unit Prisoner justifies their efforts with their excellent sophomore album Putrid | Obsolete.
Starting off as a quartet featuring Pete Rozsa on guitar and vocals, Justin Hast on bass, Dan Finn on guitar, and Joel Hansen on drums, they added Adam Lake as a full-time member to handle synths, samples, and programming, resulting in an immersive and hellish listening experience.
Seeming to capture the essence of societal collapse, Putrid | Obsolete reeks of violence and oppression, despair, and futility. Opener “Flesh Dirge” is true to its name, and opens with a couple minutes of noise, drone, and drum programming to set the mood. When the song opens up, they engage in a mid-paced slog that captures Godflesh and early Pitchshifter vibes perfectly.
At first, the pounding sounds simple enough, but closer listening reveals a ticky rhythmic attack, as nimble as it is effective. Though the noise does take a backseat to the band, the textures created by Lake lend Prisoner a truly expansive sound which adds to both the brutality and atmosphere. From there, they open up the sound more with d-beat and grind parts standing side by side with sludge and industrial riffs.
“Pool of Disgust” and “The Horde” conjure Disrupt with blast interjections. Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror seem relevant as well. They also pepper in samples and noise. Even in these more metallic songs, the guitars know how to inject more abstract stabs of noise.
“The Shroud” sees Prisoner lean further into their expanded sound template, the blasting and industrial elements seamlessly integrated, while there’s also a bit of Neurosis’s epic sound appearing as well. I’m reminded a bit of the criminally underrated New Mexico band Logical Nonsense.
The last two songs, “Pathogenesis” and “Entity”, both exceed eight minutes in length and represent the ultimate sound Prisoner seem to be going for. Industrial, d-beat, and sludge all fighting for supremacy in these harrowing pieces. They truly sound like the end of the world. While the increased song length might scare some off, it seems when they have the time to stretch out the songs really flow their best.
Prisoner’s nearest sonic compatriots at the moment are Full of Hell, and like them, I am very curious to see where Prisoner go next. It’s exciting to hear bands engaging in this kind of experimentation and hybridization because the sounds they conjure really seem to capture the nihilistic zeitgeist of our current world. It is a cold comfort that our reward for collapse is great art, but I guess we’ll take what we can get.
https://persistentvisionrecords.com/collections/prisoner
https://deathwishinc.com/collections/persistent-vision
https://prisoner.bandcamp.com/album/putrid-obsolete
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https://www.instagram.com/prisoner804/