Mobthrow: Pitch Black
Mindtrick Records

Based on the evidence of his Pitch Black EP, Angelos Liaros's Mobthrow project has lost none of its furious step since the last time we heard his music—2009's Mutant Dubstep Vol. 3 on the now-retired Spectraliquid label. Arriving mere months after his self-titled Mobthrow full-length on Ad Noiseam, the new EP by the Greek producer and current Holland resident offers four tracks (one a Hecq remix) that scatter traces of dub and drum'n'bass over aggressive and atmospheric dubstep pieces. That the title track sounds a tad like the material Deadbeat features on his recent Drawn & Quartered full-length is most definitely no bad thing. But Mobthrow's cut is more dubstep than dub, however (and heavier too), and there's also a sci-fi vibe to “Pitch Black” that gives it a deep space aura different from Deadbeat's raw earthiness. Here and elsewhere, Liaros rolls out an unstoppable, bass-heavy groove that's lowdown in the best sense of the word and trippy too in its stratospheric swirls. Speaking of trippy, the second track, “Flashback,” uses a sample from David Lynch's brain-addled Mulholland Drive for its voiceover, but the track's more notable for the decimating bass wobble and crushing beat attack. Hardest of all is the EP's closer, “Enter Dubcore,” which sets one's heart racing with a slightly faster tempo and even more hallucinatory production design. Despite the heaviness of the attack, the track also has a certain clubby dimension to it, with Mobthrow working 808,909, and TB303 sounds into its dense presentation. In addition, the almighty Hecq serves up a dystopic “Pitch Black” remix that pushes Mobthrow's original into an even more viral zone by intensifying the distorted wobble and giving it an epic dimension with the addition of orchestral elements and gravelly voice interjections. All told, it amounts to twenty minutes of dubstep fury, with Liaros striking an effective balance between artful production design and aggressive beatsmithing.

September 2011