Kris Clayton started writing new material for Camel of Doom, his avant-garde stoner project.  On realising that things were getting even more leftfield he roped in his former Esoteric bandmate Greg Chandler.  The pair drafted in Tom Vallely in to drum and he hopped on the stool to add his beats to the filthy electronic ones that the pair had already created.

Described by the accompanying promo material as “Extreme Progressive Doom Metal”, Self Hypnosis lift heavily from Justin Broadrick – whether it be Godflesh or Jesu. The opening track “Contagion” has a real “Streetcleaner” vibe to it with its grimy mix of doomy riffs and heavy industrial beats . This sounds like music being crafted in the back room of desolate urban unit surrounded by people plugged into mainframes and high on a bright blue concoction made from Mr Sheen and dex amphetamine.  The kind of desolate future that used to be depicted in science fiction until 2020 showed us that the present has gone to shit anyway!

Now, don’t walk away thinking that this is an on the rails playthrough, early 90’s industrial tribute. There is enough added flavour to make this a tastier dish.

“Empowered (Restricted)” mixes in some Prog sections and doom/death vocals into the industrial shouts and clanging and it works well.  The album has a pattern – a lengthy track of around quarter of an hour followed by a relatively short sharp shock of around 4 or 5 minutes.  This gives Self Hypnosis a chance to show two sides to their wares. Tracks like “Omission” and “Divided” are able to build up a doom-laden head of steam a bit like Yob driving the Snowpiercer with a battered sampler strapped to the dashboard.   The sound is mechanically organic with the low vocals sounding like a mix between Chris Barnes at his most guttural and Aaron Stainthorpe at his most doom/death.  There are moments of tranquillity to give relief from the bombast and one such section of “Omission” creates a gentle dreamy atmosphere backed by acoustic steel strung guitars and a hypnotic ethereal electronic backing. Quite, quite beautiful.  It builds into a post rock doomy crescendo that ascends way above the bleak android landscape built by the preceding music.

“Scandal” is a short stab of industrial doom death that sounds like the villains from the Fifth Element jousting with Steve Ignorant.

“Divided” starts with a gentle piano refrain before going a bit Sound of Perseverance era Prog Death. Lots of time changes and crazy rhythmic patterns and spiralling middle eastern guitar lines erupting hither and thither. The sound is magnificent and the dual vocals continue but this style is not my taste. I sit back and admire it for what it is but the PROG is too great here for me. Stylistically it fits well with where I see a lot of extreme music going at the moment.

“Leeches” continues in a similar vein but with the Prog dialled down a little so I can get off the side-lines. There is a nice shoegaze thing happening in the background which leaps forward into latter day Killing Joke with the speed of a tossed Molotov. An absolute stormer of a track.

At over 18 minutes the closer “Succumbed” is longer than a lot of album these days! (Hey I like Grindcore). Things take a very dark turn and tone. Giant whiffs of Nephilim waft from within as well as the sound of gigantic riffs.  This song is cavernous, what light there is from the cymbals only reflects back off the dark shadows and grime encrusted floors to emphasise that all hope is lost.

Self Hypnosis mix a classic industrial sound with disturbing death/doom with flourishes of Goth and post rock to keep it interesting. It’s not an easy listen but well worth indulging yourself.

(7.5 /10 Matt Mason)  

https://www.facebook.com/selfhypnosisband

https://selfhypnosis-uk.bandcamp.com/album/contagion-of-despair