The Soft Moon - Criminal

The Soft Moon
Criminal
(Black Vinyl)
Release: 2017

Track Listing:

1. Burn
2. Choke
3. Give Something
4. Like A Father
5. The Pain
6. It Kills
7. ILL
8. Young
9. Born Into This
10. Criminal

More Info: 
Criminal stands as the most aggressive, emotionally volatile, and punishing entry in the catalog of the late Luis Vasquez under his moniker The Soft Moon. Produced and recorded in Berlin alongside engineer Maurizio Baggio, the record trades the foggy, reverb-drenched krautrock detachment of early releases for a direct, confrontational collision of post-punk, darkwave, body horror industrial, and electronic body music (EBM). The sonic landscape is driven by jackhammer drum machine pulses, heavily distorted bass guitar lines, metallic clatter, and piercing synthesizer shrieks that recall classic Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, and DAF. Where Vasquez previously buried his vocals deep beneath layers of echo, here his voice sits violently front and center, uncoiling from breathless, paranoid murmurs to throat-tearing shrieks of guilt, shame, and fury on standout tracks like "Burn," "It Kills," and "Like a Father." It sounds like an exhilarating, pitch-black psychological exorcism performed in an abandoned concrete bunker, offering an unrelenting assault of mechanical rhythms and visceral, cathartic intensity.