MERCURY MACHINE - ascend - BRAND NEW CASSETTE TAPE

Mercury Machine are less a Manchester band and more one of a pan-European perspective that, post-Brexit, perhaps only exists only in the creative space. Sure, the five-piece pay appropriate homage to the rain-sodden post-punk of home, but their synth-driven scope targets much bigger and darker horizons. Yet it’s been a journey, and the destination is not yet fixed.

With a New Wave-leaning album already under their belts, and a new one due later in the year, the release of the Ascend EP now cements the band’s stadium-sized Goth-rock of old and so too pushes an industrial, cyber-flavoured strain of paranoia popular in the late 80s/early 90s. It’s massive and yet still eager to stomp on the pedals to ratchet up the oppressive atmosphere at every opportunity.

Stuffed with riffs and reverb, it’s an EP that swells both the ears and heart with whip-crack snares and synth gloom. Mercury is liquid at room temperature and it courses through Ascend like blood, a calculating machine capable of emotion if not empathy. Expect an uprising.