Blanck Mass
World Eater


4.5
superb

Review

by hesperus USER (31 Reviews)
March 4th, 2017 | 175 replies


Release Date: 2017 | Tracklist

Review Summary: World Eater takes the listener on a captivating tour of the ugly, beautiful worlds it consumes.

Blanck Mass’s 2015 album Dumb Flesh offered a masterful synthesis of content and presentation, its title and cover cryptically yet accurately representing the music contained within it. Dumb Flesh was, as Sputnikmusic’s own Eli K. put it, “the aural equivalent to all of those trashy club scenes you saw in ’90s movies…With sweat and flesh roiling about, bodies glide by one another in a haphazard fashion while dim lights flash around a grimy dance floor.” Yet the longer the album went on, the more that image dissolved and became abstract. Accordingly, the cover of Dumb Flesh was a portrait of human flesh twisting and interweaving in much the same way it might in a crowded, steamy dance club, but detached from any context that might establish which parts of whose bodies were on display.

Blanck Mass’s third album, World Eater, solidifies this approach as Benjamin John Power’s modus operandi. True to the album’s title and the ravenous maw on its cover, each of the tracks on World Eater paints a picture of a world--just vivid enough to be familiar--and then devours it, leaving a fascinatingly mangled version of its original form. “Rhesus Negative” is a frenetic chase scene through dirty cyberpunk streets, except when juxtaposed with a melody that twinkles and then soars, tearing the pounding rhythms away from their familiar element and into a much more surreal dimension. “Please” begins as a subdued scattering of keyboard notes like raindrops in a forest, but then it starts hailing shattered fragments of triumphant, soulful EDM. “Minnesota / Eas Fors / Naked” erupts as a cacophony of field recordings, including everything from a waterfall to drums being thrown down the stairs, before dissolving into an ambient drone of synthesizers, and then finally settling on a muted vaporwave loop. Then there’s standout track “Silent Treatment,” which eviscerates a choir and combines the shredded pieces with thumping drums and sweeping harp to create a sort of ersatz orchestra. The end result is magnificent, a captivating journey through a broken yet gorgeous realm. And really, that sentence could easily sum up World Eater at its best. The worlds that the album explores and then consumes are often beautiful and sometimes compellingly ugly, but in the last fading moments of “Hive Mind,” the listener is left grateful for the opportunity to bear witness to such an engrossing meal.



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Animated Violence Mild


Comments:Add a Comment 
hesperus
March 4th 2017


1465 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Wooo first review as a contributor



Rating might be slightly inflated because "Silent Treatment" is just that damn good

zaruyache
March 4th 2017


27750 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

second track sounds like something from a thriller or weird scifi flick. I definitely get the club vibe too, though. o_o diggin it.

Storm In A Teacup
March 4th 2017


46395 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

this album reminded me of and made me revisit my songs I recorded in 2012-15 and inspired me into reproducing all of them two nights ago.

Sinternet
Contributing Reviewer
March 4th 2017


26767 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

album rules so far



great review btw

rabidfish
March 4th 2017


8781 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

I wish it was more like dumb flesh but I guess this is alright too.



Nice rev.

Lord(e)Po)))ts
March 4th 2017


70256 Comments


i didnt know this guy was from fuck buttons til just now, hated his last album but knowing this im inclined to give him another try

rabidfish
March 4th 2017


8781 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

it's pretty different from his last, so u might dig?

Lord(e)Po)))ts
March 4th 2017


70256 Comments


will try

JamieTwort
March 4th 2017


26988 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

This is great, as expected (after hearing the first single and last year's Adult Swim single). Feels like a grower too.

Essence
March 7th 2017


6739 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

ya this is pretty good, esp. digging the last track

Lavair
March 9th 2017


960 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

I need to relisten to Dumb Flesh since I liked this so much.

NOTINTHEFACE
March 9th 2017


2142 Comments


Incredible album. Will probably make top 20 AOTY 2017 for me tbh.

anat
Contributing Reviewer
March 9th 2017


5830 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

my fave of the year thus far

FullOfSounds
March 9th 2017


15821 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Need this

bloc
March 9th 2017


70683 Comments


Heard this is good

BlazinBlitzer
March 10th 2017


2029 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I thought yall were hyping overrated electronic beep boops, but boy was I wrong. Consistency and pacing on this album are spot on. Love the album cover, too.

Mort.
March 10th 2017


26085 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

how is this so frantic yet so boring?

KingOzma
March 10th 2017


10 Comments


Album is absurdly brilliant

Are Fuck Buttons still a thing?

JamieTwort
March 10th 2017


26988 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

"how is this so frantic yet so boring?"



I hope you're not expecting an answer seeing as very few people share your opinion.

LifeFeedsOnLife
March 12th 2017


598 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Rhesus Negative would be a great track to trip out to.. This album hits so many different tones so well.



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