Review Summary: Immeasurably frustrating, but a delightful experiment.
A parallel Earth identical to ours is released from the shackles of an A.I intelligence. A solar flare knocks out the power grid neutralising the A.I nanites and it's signal releasing the minds of their hosts. The global tyranny of the secret-earth-government and their negative extraterrestrial overlords diminishes instantly.
To start off by being as blunt as possible: I don’t know why I like this record.
Planetary Hack is a very loose concept E.P, self-produced by a one-man UK act which essentially separates one building, evolving instrumental track into three separate movements. The piece is a glitchy, paranoid, synth-fuelled djent-fest akin to The Algorithm with just a little bit more focus on ambience and soundscaping rather than going for an all-out onslaught (with maybe the exception of the closing half of the second movement, which acts mainly as a shortened gateway between the first and last parts). As far as the electronics go, while the sound effects are more-or-less a dubstep 101 tutorial, great care has clearly been taken over the production. The nasty, sparse wobbles and stabs do not break any new ground, but the piece always sounds unsettling and well-layered without ever crossing over into muddier grounds. Unfortunately the percussion fares worse. When buried under the guitars and keyboards, the drums undoubtedly hold everything together, but during the quieter moments they come off as painfully synthetic. One gets the impression that while a real drummer may not have been accessible for this project, with perhaps a more techno-influenced drum machine to pad out the quieter moments and compound the heavier-hitting slams, the record may have sounded not only more satisfying, but more in keeping with the brief of the concept. Moreover, while it would be easy to criticise the lack of variation in the guitar work, I believe the open-note chugging is there to provide a bit of bulk and an added flourish rather than lead the piece as it would in any more ‘conventional’ metal project.
With just a little bit more variation, a little more musicality and some pay-off for the continued threat of a climax, this could quite easily have been one of my favourite metal releases in recent memory, and despite the record not seeming to have an end goal in sight, I can’t quite manage to keep away. Others may not find this so appealing. Immeasurably frustrating, but a delightful experiment.
