Opaque Couche CD

It may be 30 years since the first Meat Beat Manifesto album hit record stores, but the Jack Dangers-helmed outfit is still going strong. "Opaque Couche", the first "MBM" album for two years, draws on many of Dangers' well-known influences and inspirations (think dub, breakbeat, industrial funk, early jungle, EBM, mangled electronica and '80s electro), fusing them together on heavyweight cuts that bristle with sub-heavy intensity and otherworldly charm. Highlights come thick and fast throughout, from the early Orb style ambient house trip of "C/2015 V2" and acid-driven techno hypnotism of "Present For Sally", to the rambunctious jungle revivalism of "Critical Soul Vibrations", wayward industrial-electro of "Moving Pulse" and the horror soundtrack creepiness of "Hailing Frequencies Open".