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In 2020, Oklahoma City musician James Hammontree released his first full-length as Black Magnet. Hallucination Scene uses all the best parts of 90s industrial metal—even the radio-friendly sounds—to make something that hovers between synthetic and organic. Through their layers of synths, drum machines, and ugly noise, his songs remain as catchy as the best work by the greats to whom he tipped his hat. On his brand-new album, Body Prophecy (20 Buck Spin), Hammontree pushes all those ideas and elements further and makes them a bit meaner. Produced and engineered by Chicago-based metal master Sanford Parker, the record combines massive, slamming electronic beats, harsh guitar squalls, copious glitchy synths, and processed, tortured vocals. It ditches the melodic flourishes and dance-floor-ready energy of Black Magnet’s previous work for an unsettling listen that leans slightly more Godflesh than Nine Inch Nails and more Uniform than Marilyn Manson. Each track feels larger-than-life as it pounds relentlessly into your brain, and the last one is a remix of album cut “Incubate” by Godflesh front man Justin Broadrick. It’s a match made in heaven: a reimagining of the student’s song by the master that adds signature Broadrick eeriness to a smasher of a record.

Black Magnet’s Body Prophecy drops July 29 via Bandcamp.

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