Stepping away from his mic-destroying duties in Austin punk band Xetas, David Petro becomes Cruel Whip, a half-man/half-cyborg scoring a soundtrack to a weird future.

6 tracks of Cruel Whip‘s debut are filled to the brim with bone-rattling percussion as well as jarring noises and glitches of unimaginable variety. There’s a dash of melody to be found underneath the grimy surface with Consumption sounding like a radio broadcast from a distant planet and Table of Drops being a secret electropop hit from another dimension.

For the most part, however, Fatal Man sticks to the principles taught by the likes of SPK, Einsturzende Neubaten and Throbbing Gristle. Menacing, mechanical and downright sinister at times the album leaves little room for contemplation – nothing short of a total war, indeed.

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