Listen: Lord Mantis’ “Choke” Is On You

Anyone who has seen the movie Irreversible (or Bad Lieutenant) can understand the following: “It is not something that can be listened to with ‘enjoyment’ but instead with wonder and deep introspection.” Written by Laina Dawes for Noisey, those words describe Lord Mantis’ upcoming album Death Mask and provide an important distinction. That is, you can love Lord Mantis’ art (and Nil By Mouth and Junk Food) but you might not love experiencing it. Because it’s so grody, unflinching, and horrifying.

That means it is upon solid emotional ground that you wish to stand while clicking play on Death Mask‘s new first track, “Body Choke” (here at Noisey) — and, if you dare, while reading the accompanying interview in which LM frontman Charlie Fell goes all Taxi Driver via confessions of detachment, dissociation, and profound Chicago weirdness. We’ve already filched Dawes’ best line above, so we won’t share any more bits from the Q&A — okay, Fell discusses the secret to his rad bass tone, too — but you can trust that the experience will scum up your life.

Lord Mantis’ third album Death Mask is out April 29 on Profound Lore.