Every successful artist has to have an album like Drukqs in their discography, don’t they? The over-ambitious double-album it is, RDJ’s fifth studio record gorges itself on ideas, moods, genres, and the sheer unstoppable genius of the guy who created it. If ever Aphex Twin had a record that could be described as “pompous,” Drukqs would be the one. Its 30-song tracklist seems daunting at first glance, but once you actually give the whole thing a spin do you realize exactly how insurmountable it is — each of the two discs is longer than even the extended version of Richard D. James Album, and are jam packed with far less friendly, far more hyperactive music. Perhaps only matched by the downright massive Selected Ambient Works Vol. II, which clocks in around two and a half hours, Drukqs is an album that demands your undivided attention for such a long time that you have no choice but to be sucked into its universe. The difference here is that this is a largely unwelcoming and abrasive environment, and it can quite understandably become taxing on the senses.

But, of course, there is pure Aphex Twin magic coursing through the veins of this coal-black, 100-minute behemoth. The steely drum machine blasts of “Cock/Ver10,” “54 Cymru Beats,” and “Meltphace 6″ use classic jungle and drum & bass tropes to give new meaning to the word “whiplash,” and always with a dash of haunted dissonance; bewitching interludes are just as memorable here, too, like the hazy bounce of “Bbydhyonchord” and gorgeous acoustic pieces “Btoum-Roumada” or “Penty Harmonium”; and then there are the likes of “Gwely Mernans” and “Bit4,” disquieting plumes of ominous ambience James unleashes into our bones. And one can’t really talk about Drukqs without mentioning “Avril 14th,” a candidly simplistic piano piece that somehow made it onto such a menacing and disjointed album in one piece. At the risk of hyperbole, I will say that the world is a better place because of the quietly beautiful existence of “Avril 14th,” and that alone is a valid reason to sing the praises of the oft-maligned Drukqs.