I freaking loved Autokrator's last album. Never before have the worlds of death metal and drone collided so fully, so comprehensively, and so successfully. Autokrator don't make death and drone...they make deathdrone. It's a melting pot of destructive forces that sound like mother earth groaning under the shifting of her plates. It's meditation for serial killers. So imagine my pleasure at not only recieving the usual promo email, but also recieving a message directly from the musician asking us to review the follow-up. How could I say no?
Well, if you share my pleasure for the industrial sounds of hell, prepare for more of the same. If it ain't broke, after all... The Obedience tp Authority is yet another chapter in the saga of overbearing sonic domination. Prepare your senses to be berated by the sounds steel against steel, bone against bone, and blood being spilled. Distortion is an ever-present, berating crunch over harsh blasts of drums and menacing growls.
And yet for all of the loudness and violence, there is still something disturbingly soothing about it all. For those who know about the idea of regulation, our brains are rewarded and calmed by things that are patterned, rhythmic, and repetetive. And such is the genius of Autokrator: soundscapes can be oppressive as hell, but as long as they check off all 3 of those boxes, you're left in a strange state of comfort. I imagine this is what brainwashing sounds like.
So once again, Autokrator have done something interesting with two incredibly disparate genres. While there is something a bit sparser in the production and volume since the last release, The Obedience to Authority still holds up to its name quite well. Were I to pick one over the other, I must still say the impact of Autokrator has left too much of a lasting impression to be knocked out. Even so, I look forward to spending more time with the follow-up and having more ammunition with which to drone myself to death.