The Black Dog - Liber Nox

The Black Dog - Liber Nox (24th October, Dust Science recordings)

The first of the Black Dog's Liber trilogies concludes with a speaker-busting 12" of industrial-tinged darkwave techno that nicely rounds out the previous two releases. Stripping away the four-to-the-floor kickdrums in favour of more breakbeat-inflected material, The Black Dog resurrect the grinding kickdrums and ethereal synths of Liber Church to add a touch of intellectualism to nevertheless brutal techno. High Rise Choir Reprise nods to Bass Mantra with it's meandering, low-passed bassline complementing the floaty synths. Shying away from the 4/4 of the previous records, it's an inherently funky track, contrasting an optimistic, upbeat feel with doomy textures and industrial touches. With both tracks clocking in at healthy 7+ minutes, The Black Dog allow more and more layers to build up in the mix, creating multiple builds and climaxes - by the time the soaring strings enter High Rise Choir Reprise, it's all gone insanely epic. Dissident Bleep on the flipside sticks to much more minimalist palette of sound, relying on the force of its kickdrums and the discordant redux-heavy synths to build new dynamics. It's probably the darkest track in the trilogy, with synthesised vocal samples creating a paranoiac atmosphere, before a suffocating bassline drowns it out. A nice conclusion to the series and a great complement to the album, The Black Dog's latest reinvention is proving one of their most successful yet.

[Dustv031] Liber Nox - The Black Dog - Dissident Bleep by The Black Dog [Dustv031] Liber Nox - The Black Dog - High Rise Choir Reprise by The Black Dog