Glitch Black pushes the boundaries of cyberpunk, dark synth, and industrial sounds of synth into a category-less fusion on Mechanical Perfection. It is a stand out release.
the electroscape connected with the artist to learn more about the story of Glitch Black, an apparition torn from the frayed fabric of the universe only to arrive here on Earth. The interdimensional nature of Glitch Black was the centerpiece of early albums, such as Interdimensional. Glitch Black forewarned humans of their eventual fate with stories of fallen alien civilizations. He initially wished to help other living beings, but he soon began to judge humans as lesser-beings, which is featured on albums such as Death Spiral, Dominus Infernus, and Hypercube. He spearheaded a robotic revolution against humans, as can be seen on the cover art of Emergent Behavior and Age of Machines. Glitch Black was once an organic being but has almost entirely transformed himself into a robotic being, a transformation depicted in the cover art of many of Glitch Black’s albums.
Mechanical Perfection was written in 2019-2020, beginning in Baton Rouge, LA and finished in Seattle, WA, separated in time by the Dark Future Tour, and released on July 9, 2020.
The title Mechanical Perfection is striking. Glitch Black has become almost entirely mechanical in his pursuit of perfection, yet he is, by definition, imperfect, as he is created from glitch and the torn fabric of the universe. The artist has been inspired by music that has a grand scale, effective use of synthesizers and the faster, exciting pace of dark music with a no-nonsense feel. Mechanical Perfection exemplifies these influences. The album plays like leaping off a cliff, traversing the canyon below in the dark only to arrive at a vast pitch black horizon.
Mechanical Perfection opens with the sound of the powering up and emerging awareness of the mechanical being Glitch Black has become. The opening tracks are aggressive and merciless, such as in the aptly titled “Onslaught “during which the drums beat deep, hard, and loud against speed guitar and synth lines, eliciting the feeling of a mechanical army approaching and destroying everything in sight. “Binary Overlord” feels like being hunted in the dark and features high tempo, higher pitched melodies against the depth of big, dark synth. “Grit” features interesting and unique dark synth and cyberpunk textures along side robotic inspired melodies.
The artist told the electroscape Mechanical Perfection has a more mechanical sound than prior releases, which shine on the opening tracks. The artist also said when crafting songs they come to life through experimentation in the moment, sometimes changing continuously, which I notice often on Mechanical Perfection, such as on “Dark Future.” This feature of the structure of the songs keeps the mind guessing as to the song’s direction.
Mechanical Perfection features many catchy cyberpunk melodies that suck you in, such as “Shock Troopers,” which opens like a raving mosh pit, and also fear-inducing pieces, such as “Cataclysm,” which opens with what can only be described as awakening from a deep sleep to a vicious pounding on the door, along with the atmospheric dark synth and high pitched, high tempo melodies that sound as if they were constructed in slow motion and played at high speed, one racing after the other.
Masterful synth work rears its head on “Proxy War,” which features amped up nostalgic synth elements and, in places, plays like a dark synth classical orchestra. “Proxy War” also showcases the lighter side of percussion, which is incredibly textured and built through layers of high tempo beats. “Blood & Rust” features dark synth and cyberpunk melodies that appear and disappear, eliciting the feeling of prowling in the night.
The album continues its march toward the vast pitch black horizon at which the album will abruptly end. “Mechanical Perfection” melds metal, cyberpunk, and big synth and evokes the feeling of an actor in a scene of a movie with a grim script. It is here we hear Glitch Back himself speak the words “Mechanical Perfection”, only to experience a glitch on the word “perfection.”
Mechanical Perfection comes to a close with “Deleted Memories,” a scary proposition that is as much human as it is machine. The opening bass line and eerie dark synth feels like the the blackness is just steps away. The track turns in unforeseen directions at unforeseen times and ends without warning, in emptiness, like permanent deletion.
Glitch Black’s album titles read like a series of novels in a story yet to be finished, and the song titles read like the titles of the chapters. While we wait for the next story to be written, the artist is considering a release of B-sides from Mechanical Perfection and other unreleased Glitch Black work from over the past seven years.
Glitch Black is more than the music. The artist also creates thematically related virtual art, two examples of which can be seen below.