Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Luke Waller discovers an album of nihilistic post-punk
The Leaf Label
Released: 25.09.26
When Kraftwerk released their album The Man-Machine in 1978, they satirised the mechanisation of society, affecting a naïve faith in a science-fictionalised utopia. Almost half a century on, The Sick Man of Europe responds grimly, personifying the dehumanising results of this seemingly endless automation. The Intermittent Signal stays strictly within the conceptual boundaries defined by the band’s debut self-titled album, released last year, however yielding a more refined product than before. Carried forward by pulsating synth á la Depeche Mode, embellished with cold, clean guitar, the album repurposes the Cold War angst of Krautrock and post-punk for the modern day.
Negative Stimuli, the lead single, opens the album with an urgent throb. An impassive voice declares “If you’re not exploiting yourself, you’re exploiting somebody else”, which soon transforms into the mantra “If you’re not destroying yourself, you’re destroying everything else” – human society possessed by the ambition of interminable growth characterised as a cancer: hubristic, parasitic, and meaningless. Such misanthropic nihilism pervades the album, coming out most compellingly on the subsequent tracks Chromophobia and Apathy, with pounding bass providing furious drive throughout.
With each persistent lament, The Intermittent Signal embodies a cold, inhuman monotony, making a mockery of the soulless, commodifying mechanics of capitalism. The Sick Man of Europe remains uncompromising in its commitment to its message and aesthetics, monochrome but never drab.
