The human experiment has come a long way, and it also seems fraught with failure, bound to end our collective existence with our own hubris and pigheadedness. Every day seems to be a different experiment in trying to keep our shit together while we watch political parties wage war on the underprivileged, social media continue to be a stinking cesspool, and we watch our environment erode at the benefit of rich fucks’ bank accounts.

It’s not that “Putrid | Obsolete,” the second record from Prisoner, addresses those matters exactly, but they do focus on humanity’s seemingly imminent downfall. Their brand of industrial-tinged noise and metal feels like skulls melting from insurmountable heat, brains scrambling, and our blood washing away forever. The band—Pete Rozsa (guitars, vocals, synth, samples), Dan Finn (guitars, vocals), Justin Hast (bass, vocals), Joel Hansen (drums, synth, samples), Adam Lake (synth, samples, programming)—creates eight tracks that punish over 45 minutes, and it’ll burn a hole in your psyche. Their amalgamation of noise, death metal, hardcore, and other fiery elements make them sound dangerous and dissolving at the seams, delivering a destructive record that mirrors human behavior.

“Flesh Dirge” bathes in a noise deluge, an uncomfortable and contorting start that spits acid as the howls trudge and destroy, the savagery acting as a battering ram. Beastly roars ravage as the guitars blaze, and the barnstorming takes apart bodies limb from limb. “Pool of Disgust” speeds through as growls carve, and the assault acts as a sort-of instant death knell. The drums decimate as the playing hulks and tears down buildings, crashing into “The Horde” that has guitars swarming and the punishment exploding. The growls retch as the intensity continues to increase dangerously, smashing faces, and the blasts incinerate as things blast into “Shroud.” Guitars drip as the drums mash, the howls storming and snaking, the pace crashing into a synth swarm. The assault continues and gets thicker, isolated melodies bleeding through bleak terror, molten heaviness mangling and rampaging into oblivion.

“Leaden Tomb” boils in industrial noise, destroying with mechanical death, smothering with total hell. The playing slowly mauls as the roars scathe, brutally pounding you into oblivion. “Pathogenesis” seethes in bustling noise, tearing open and letting the blood pool, laying waste to mind and body. The storm halts momentarily, and then the noise caves in, electrical jabs pushing through and eating away at you, the playing slowly melting. The devastation continues to ramp up as the howls pierce, calculated battery bloodies faces, and the final gust loosens teeth. “Entity” enters with corrosive howls and heavy battering, hellish horrors taking over your psyche. The playing swirls and guts, the sounds enveloping you, things calming down as dialog from “Westworld” warbles, the floodgates opening again. Wild calls and concussive jolts unite as cosmic wooshes push through, slowly churning and bleeding into closer “Nanodeath.” Guitars cut and then go gazey, the roars belt, and carnage unloads, strange synth making things even more perplexing. Guitars melt and spiral, stinging as the corrosion spreads, glazing over mystical synth and noise that ends your experience at the pit of hell.

We’re at the mercy of a world and our societies that seem to have only the worst for us in mind. “Putrid | Obsolete” won’t put an end to that and also isn’t likely to salve your wounds, but it reflects the anxiety and horrors that surround us that Prisoner have put to record. This is abrasive torture, an experience that warps metal and extremity to the band’s whims and buries your face in the worst possible realities that might soon come to pass.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/prisoner804

To buy the album, go here: https://persistentvisionrecords.com/collections/prisoner

For more on the label, go here: https://persistentvisionrecords.com/