Venetian Snares' latest release is a sequel of sorts to his best album, 2001's masterpiece of hardcore electronic sadism Doll Doll Doll.That album had a cohesive theme and a powerful diabolical precisionthat Aaron Funk has never matched, though he has released many finealbums since. Find Candace picks up where Doll Doll Dollleft off, and exacts a virtuoso sonic attack that matches the originalfor its sheer adrenaline rush of sound. Much like injecting crystalmeth directly into the jugular vein, this feels dirty and dangerous,and at high volume it has the ability to quicken the pulse and make thepalms sweat. The agitation begins with the first track, an incredibleremix of "Befriend a Child Killer." Stuttering, hyper-accelerated drumn' bass hits are coaxed out, a little at a time, until the songexplodes like a money shot in the face with a splattered wall ofscattershot rhythms and mind-wrenching acid lines. One of those genericdancehall singers that always heard in hardcore jungle songs pipes in,but his voice has been pitched down and distorted to sound monstrousand Satanic. This is extremely scary music that immediately puts toshame most of the self-consciously transgressive industrial music madefor in recent years. Aaron Funk's menacing, soulless music reminds meof the experience of hearing Too Dark Park and Last Rights-eraSkinny Puppy in my high school days as I was unprepared to hearsomething so dark and relentlessly aggressive and amoral. The music isdevoid of all emotion other than a raw, pulsating desire for Dionysianthrills and hyperspeed excitement, like a digital version of Slayer'smasterpiece Reign in Blood. The second track "Mercy Funk" isthe Snares' attempt to make a pounding rave anthem that is designed tokill any ravers that attempt to dance to it. Listening to theseven-minute "Find Candace" is like the experience taking a walk in thepark at night, witnessing a gang rape in progress, and joining in.Later, you feel remorse, so you go to a church. Suddenly, you have achange of heart and decide to burn the church down, run out into thestreet and howl at the moon. "Yor" begins as an ominous ambient trackconstructed from multitracked voices a la Gyorgi Ligeti, but it quicklyslaps you in the face with deep, percussive punches and samples ofmuffled graveyard screams. The brilliant "Children's Limbo" is thesuccessor to Doll Doll Doll's best track "Dollmaker". The trackbegins with a British child describing the four levels of hell againstan innocently funky breakbeat, but soon the scary synthesizer squealsoff into the drum n' bass inferno once again. "Dolleater" begins with aseries of high-pitched, strident tones and quickly becomes an orgy ofunfocused rage, penetrating the eardrums with an ecstasy of percussivepunishment. The album ends with the mercifully short "Blind Candace," abaroque pipe organ melody which segues into a kind of stop-start deathmetal dirge, complete with live drums and twisted screams. A trumpetcalls out desparately, and I am left wondering what the hell Aaron Funkhas managed to do to my mind. I must go out and find a small,innocent-looking child to defile now. - Read More
