Sheffield's Cabaret Voltaire reappeared last year with "Shadow of Fear", the first proper album in 26 years. Originally a trio, the act is now a solo project of founder member Richard H. Kirk, who bleep techno lovers might know better as Warp Records OG Sweet Exorcist. But don't expect a selection of minimal 4/4 jams here - Kirk has fully leaned into the industrial mode on "BN9Drone", a single hour-long track of wobbly synth, crunchy distortion and searing noise.
It's engrossing, pineal-tickling stuff, hinged around a single synth tone (maybe the "drone" in the title?) that Kirk molds and pulls like clay, embellishing it with radio static, voices and chimes. Kirk has long been an innovator, and this harks back to his industrial roots, reminding of Maurizio Bianchi, early Merzbow, Prurient or other disintegrated fuxxed electronix.
Side A
1 Eins
Side B
1 Zwei
Side C
1 Drei
Side D
1 Vier