Maggot Mass: Neues Album von Pharmakon

Am 4. Oktober veröffentlichen Sacred Bones das fünfte Pharmakon-Album. „Maggot Mass“ erscheint fünf Jahre nach dem auch hier hochgelobten „Devour“. Margaret Chardiet hatte auf den vorherigen vier Alben „gezeigt, dass sie es beherrscht, eine brachiale, atonale Musik zu spielen, bei der oftmals der Körper in all seiner Verletzlichkeit im Fokus steht – etwas, das sich im Artwork der jeweiligen Veröffentlichungen widerspiegelt(e). “ Bei „Maggot Mass“ ist die musikalische Herangehensweise (leicht) verändert : „This album signifies a departure from the original rules and structures established by Margaret Chardiet for Pharmakon, evolving into a new form. It retains the project’s experimental roots in power electronics and noise while incorporating industrial and punk influences.“ Was „Maggot Mass“ mit den vorherigen Alben verbindet, ist die konzeptionelle Ausrichtung, die bei Chardiet immer präsent ist: „The album stems from a profound disgust with humanity’s dysfunctional relationship with the environment and other life forms. It explores the loneliness resulting from this broken bond and challenges us to acknowledge our personal and systemic responsibility.

What peace can we make with privilege when the true cost of our comfort is not measured in dollars but in death? How can we reconcile with death when we impose the same hierarchical structures on it that we do in life? Is life worth living in the isolation of this self-imposed species loneliness?
Humans often measure worth by accumulation-money, assets, objects-mistaking this for power and influence. Western heritage dictates a hierarchy, placing humans at the top, separate from the natural world. This delusion turns bodies into objects, land into property, and people into expendable tools.
If our value were instead determined by our contribution to the ecosystem, who could claim that a human is more valuable than a maggot? Maggots recycle death into life, breaking down matter and nourishing new growth. They transform into flies, pollinating plants and sustaining the Earth’s flora. In contrast, humans pollute rather than pollinate, with a select few profiting from exploitation at the expense of biodiversity and the well-being of many.
In grappling with grief and loss on both personal and global scales, Margaret sought solace in the idea of rebirth through death, celebrating the beauty of regeneration through decay. However, she had to confront the stark reality of the disconnection from the earth under oppressive systems. Pharmakon is here imagining a path where the final act is to give back what was received from creation, offering our lives and deaths to sustain existence.

once I slough
off this human skin
I will find my home
and ancestral kin…
in the coffin-birth
of my cadaver’s ecosystem

Das Album erscheint als CD, Kassette, in verschiedenen Vinylversionen und als Download.

@ Sacred Bones