One thing that draws people to extreme music is its ability to voice emotions and thoughts that other avenues can’t always express properly. Case and point with Mercurial Gaslighting, the debut release from Fatalisté, a dark, industrial, noise fuelled delve into pure, negative expression.
Mercurial Gaslighting skirts many genre lines, but calling it an auditory nightmare is probably the most apt. The power electronic rattlings of opener ‘Opaque Parameters’ soon explode into the blasts of droning noise layers of ‘Little Monkey’, and this theme of no respite keeps up for the whole album. Even the more subdued passages, such as the latter half of the title track, are dense, crackling attacks on the ears, and this genuinely crushing atmosphere keeps up for the album’s near hour runtime.
Fatalisté is still able to keep the endless drones interesting, with a great variety of textures and sound sources giving each track a sense of identity, despite the corner of music this album falls under. The closest thing to an interlude, ‘Ecumenical Cloaca’, packs a lot of movement in, despite it’s short runtime, and provides the very necessary ear break before the album’s sample heavy closer. Speaking of ear breaks, you’ll likely need them. This release will, to put it lightly, crush you, but judging by the emotions Fatalisté wished to convey on this album, that speaks volumes of the music present here.
A near hour long dig into pure negativity, Mercurial Gaslighting isn’t something to be taken lightly, but for some people, that’s all the endorsement they’ll need.
Mecurial Gaslighting is out via Trepanation Recordings on 27th March and can be purchased here.
Words: Sean Elias
