- From The Shadows That Melt The Flesh is the third release from the Berlin-based Samuel Kerridge, and drops ahead of an album due some time towards the end of the year. By now, Kerridge's territory is well staked-out. In contrast to the pyrotechnics of many industrial techno newcomers, his sound is a patient horror that slowly suffuses the nervous system like anaesthetic. It's an approach drawn as much from Sunn O)))'s doom-drone or post-punk as the dance floor, making Kerridge a logical presence on the Downwards roster.
This EP, in fact, features some of Kerridge's most direct overtures to the floor yet. "1"'s galloping syncopated rhythms aren't so far from Sandwell District, and the structuring is surprisingly incisive. "3" is a little more sluggish, but Kerridge's usual submerged throb is supplanted by crisper percussion. In both cases the drums wrestle for dominance with eardrum-scraping drones and blasts of sculpted noise; textures dropped on the mix like dead weights. Elsewhere, Kerridge slows things down to a barely-perceptible crawl. "2" could be a bleaker version of Pole's pristine dub-ambient constructions, while the chilly chords that descend in the latter half have a subtly redemptive tone to them, a technique last aired on Kerridge's Horizontal Ground EP. Finally, "4" may be the simplest construction—a muted kick-and-bass loop, noise textures and little else—but the effect is utterly spine chilling.
Tracklist A1 From The Shadows That Melt The Flesh 1
A2 From The Shadows That Melt The Flesh 2
B1 From The Shadows That Melt The Flesh 3
B2 From The Shadows That Melt The Flesh 4