Pharmakon

Pharmakon

This has been a big year for noise fans, with albums from Wolf Eyes, Hair Police, and Prurient to name a few. Yet not one of those vets could even touch 22-year-old Margeret Chardiet’s searing debut album as Pharmakon. Just 27 minutes, Abandon is one of the most harrowing albums of the year. Built around crushing industrial blasts and painful, raw screams, Chardiet’s music is recorded with the immediacy of her volcanic live shows. It is also a record based on careful tension-building; from the opening howl of “Milkweed” to the death-march of “Crawling On Bruised Knees,” Chardiet knows exactly where she’s dragging you and it’s not pretty. – Miles

BUY: Abandon is available via Sacred Bones.