Perturbator’s New Song, “Death of the Soul,” Goes Full-Bore Industrial

Following the release of the New Model EP in 2017, synthwave pioneer Perturbator proclaimed that he’d be leaving behind the genre he helped usher into the mainstream. I can’t recall if he said this next part or not, but the reason for his pivot was obvious: the genre had already become over-saturated with second-rate knockoffs, so it was time to move on to something new.

Perturbator (née James Kent) began his next journey in 2019 with the standalone single “Excess,” which owed as much to post-punk and nu-wave as synthwave. And now, with his latest single, “Death of the Soul,” he’s venturing into the dark, murky waters of full-on industrial. Throw a few layers of distorted guitars on top, drop Trent Reznor’s voice in, and you’d be a step away from a vintage Nine Inch Nails track! There’s still plenty of electronic elements and retro synth stuff going on, naturally — it’s still Perturbator — but this is a darker, more guttural version than we’ve heard before.

Kent offered of the track:

“The track takes inspiration from old-school EBM a la DAF or Front 242, Valnoir [Metastazis] has managed to perfectly pair visuals that reflect the nihilistic tone of it.”

Check it out below. New album Lustful Sacraments comes out May 28 via Blood Music; pre-order here.