King Cannibal is the latest incarnation of the artist formerly known as Zilla, a mixtape prodigy (check the supremely eclectic mid-'00s One Foot in the Fire, One Fist in the Air, if you can track it down) who managed to impress even the jaded Warp Records honchos a few years back. After a few EPs and singles under this oh-so-daaaark alter ego, we now get the full album, which is titled after a phrase from Jim "Jonestown Massacre" Jones's "suicide tape."
UK reviews are calling it a "dystopian dubstep document" on steroids and the "next big nasty thing." Recurrent references to darkness and the Devil and the Hostel movies might mislead you into thinking this is some silly (Marilyn) Manson-esque pantomime. But in fact it's a brilliant marriage of classic drum 'n' bass and the vanguard of the dancehall/dubstep scene.
If you can get past the hackneyed serial-killer/survivalist imagery and the played-out distressed, grungy fonts, there's much to enjoy in a carefully sequenced album that oscillates between Lynchian soundscapes and superb, kinetic dance-floor fillers like the top-shelf single "Virgo," which features the ululating French crew Face-à-Face. Fans of old-school industrial music — I know you're out there — who don't mind shaking their booty will find a lot to like here as well.
