Hyper Vigilance by Ramleh

Hunger divides the locust from the grasshopper, lacerating these harmless common insects into warped, ferocious, all-consuming machines, looting the desert for all its struggling life in the midst of the deepest droughts. Experimental rock legends Ramleh observe the same gruesome transformation in their follow man on their new record Hyper Vigilance, a genre-defying testament to misanthropy and its origins deep within ourselves. Edgy industrial synths underpin an ancient, natural, pulsing rhythmic sensibility, setting an enormous, unsettling stage for rare moments of lyrical clarity. These vocal interstices warn of the incoming destructive swarm, lamenting systemic sociopathy with a series of unsettling chants set to sweeping, sludgy metallic rock. An interesting pivot appears late in the record, however, with the speaker cherishing and elevating their own deep-seeded survival drive, one kicked into overdrive facing the prospect of aging and an accelerating demise. Surprisingly, the musical environment remains unwelcoming, foreboding, and alienating, connecting this lust for life with the aforementioned interpersonal apathy. Hunger makes locusts of grasshoppers, and the primal urge to continue on makes a parasite of the noblest man.