Hecate

A concept album of sorts, Brew Hideous is a hellish soundtrack to an old, real-life horror — the mass witch-hunts and persecution of the middle and early modern ages. Hecate’s latest record follows upon ten years of dark experimentation, its mastermind (Rachael Kozak) frequently cited as the most prolific woman in hard electronic music. Brew Hideous transmutes the buzz-saw riffs, blast beats and visceral growls of black metal into the raw material of a breakcore/ambient/industrial soundscape, as intense and extreme as its parts, and eerier, in fact, for its unpredictability. The dominant texture of razor-sharp beats, static, samples and snarls sometimes cuts into a warmer layer as well — a wash of soft effects, a church choir — the lighter sounds emphasising rather than dissipating the glorious evil of the whole. Supplementing Hecate’s "sonic debauchery” and "vocal blasphemies” are guitars, writing and performances by a handful of guests.