by Dan Goldin (@paintingwithdan)
Two weeks after the release of Alpha Hopper’s new album, Let Heaven and Nature Sing II, John Toohill is back with a new record from Science Man, his dystopian hardcore project turned bulldozer of a full band. The project, and it’s ever expanding world of combustible dread, has been melting our senses for the past six years, but it would seem that little could prepare us for this version of the band, as they present a caterwauling atonal descrambling of our brains. Set to release Monarch Joy on May 23rd via Swimming Faith (Alpha Hopper, Ismatic Guru, Razorface), the shift from solo project to band could best be described as the difference between the claustrophobic alarm of sci-fi terror versus a roving gang of ruthless maniacs. It’s still chaotic, but the chaos has evolved, the fears have changed.
“Control Collar,” the record’s lead single, is a great re-introduction, a song that feels slightly less alien, giving into primal tendencies, yet every bit as deranged and unhinged. Science Man are playing hardcore for the era of malfunctioning replicants and cities consumed in an everlasting fog, yet there’s a radiance to their performance, a human brutality. Toohill and company are buzzing against the static din, blending riffs sharp enough to cut through steel and a brutish no-frills hardcore rhythm section that’s generally relentless, pounding, and sonically impenetrable. This is the good stuff, art punk meets hardcore where all boundaries blur to mass volatility.