Genre: Avant-garde Metal / Sludge Metal / Extreme Industrial Metal

01 Larva
02 Cocoon
03 Lumbricold
04 Trematoid
05 Helminth
06 Passera

“This CD has been cursed from day one” says the label manager from Midhir Records, a label that I am largely unfamiliar with until this point. In fact, I've never heard of either them nor Scald until this very moment. This is surprising to me as the band's previous label, Code666, is certainly one of my favorites. This CD has gone through 5 different pressings and two plants, all fucked up, before finding its place as it should have been with the label. Finally Fluke has been released upon the world, with the idea behind the album being the fact that mankind, for all intents and purposes, is a 'fluke' in the universe, an accident in a world without a higher being. This album is also a rip at the Catholic church, and all of their historical greed.

Scald, surprisingly enough formed out of the ashes of several Irish crust-punk bands, and now holds onto a bitter sound of avant-garde mechanical destructiveness. I'm confused a bit about their intentions though. I realize that they are opposed to the catholic church. That has been explained in the press sheet and there is a communion wafer depicting a strange version of the chaos star included with the promo, but the album artwork really leads me astray. Are these dysfunctional Catholics operating outside of the church or are they affiliated with another spirituality? Indeed the catholic hold on Ireland and its citizens has been long and historically famous, so their stance is largely unknown to me and leaves me rather confused. The music speaks for itself though in its punk influence and industrial metal attitude; they're definitely pissed off about something!

This isn't the band's first effort by any means. In fact, this is their third official offering to the world of experimental metal, though the first was an independent release. They've been doing this for a decade and a half now and its pretty apparent that they're now experts on this style. The last track is however, industrial ambient in nature. Sample speeches everywhere, static, and death industrial sounds combined with dark ambient tendencies really make for a post-apocalyptic punch to the end of the album. Overall, this has been one of the strangest releases in the metal field that I've had the privilege of hearing, and the fact that it's Irish makes it even better for me. Those of you that know me know that I'm a sucker for Irish metal. I've not been experienced with Midhir Records in the past, but I'm certainly glad that I'm aware of their existence now! One for you avant-garde crazies out there, especially if you like your music with a punk-as-fuck attitude.