Dev/Null: Lazer Thrash
Cock Rock Disco
Recorded between 2002 and 2005, Dev/Null's (Pete Cassin) debut full-length Lazer Thrash pushes breakcore to its zenith, with the collection's material so jam-packed with micro-detail (the drum programming especially), it implodes. Lazer Thrash s relentless, combustible onslaught is assaultive, but the light-speed style doesn't entirely negate the tracks' musical potential. “Hiphop2” and “Alien Washcloth Tumor” open the album with hip-hop heaviosity and funk shredding respectively, while the slightly slower “Goblin” oozes gloom as it demolishes whole towns with volcanic force. Along the way, one withstands metal raveups and soundtrack-inflected set-pieces. Cassin occasionally allows a piano to be heard sans deafening clatter, though the moment typically passes quickly before the instrument is swallowed into the vortex.
Dev/Null's sound is at its most extreme on furious cuts like “Real Ultimate Power,” where 8-bit arcade electro gets slaughtered by pummeling beats, and “I'd Rather Mainline Preparation H Than Listen To Your Shitty, Shitty Music,” which opens in dancehall-electro mode before being hijacked by shredding breaks. In “Bolt Thrower in a Chine Restaurant,” arcade synths and doomsday strings do battle before the detonation occurs, shattering everything within range. Less appealing are the spastic noisecore workout “Hello Japan !!” and “Symphonies of Suckness” where the tempo accelerates so much the drums seem to choke on themselves. Generally speaking, the material's overdriven style and claustrophobic density grow wearying by the time the epic roar of “Banal Universe” drops eleven tunes in. Lazer Thrash suggests that Cassin's completely insane and entirely proud of it.June 2007