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I don't remember exactly where it was that I first discovered Bagman's blackened fusion of misanthropic electronics and oppressive harsh noise (probably the Men Who Solicit Sex disc that came out on Murderabilia), but I know that it had instantly seeped into my brain, infecting me with an utterly malignant atmosphere. This one-man UK outfit has been producing this pitch-black noise since at least 2008, and has already amassed a pretty impressive list of releases since then, each one a sonic representation of abject horror, the residue remaining after one gazes unblinkingly into the bottomless abyss that is humanity's capacity for evil and cruelty. When I throw on one of the few Bagman releases I've been able to track down, it feels like every mote of light in the room is being slowly crushed, leaving behind a caput mortuum of dread and disgust. Bagman's recordings ooze with the unfiltered horror of the human mind, translated into a series of violent audio frequencies. This stuff ain't no fun, that's for sure. Carrying on the tradition of transgression found in the early UK power electronics scene but combining it with a much more brutal and suffocating sonic assault, Bagman's early recordings are rumbling, bestial noisescapes littered with the voices of hate-mongers and murderers, criminals and degenerates and scenes of sexual deviance all suffused into the crushing walls of black static filth, junk metal devastation and monstrous electronics. Previously out of print, three of Bagman's malevolent early CDR releases have now been reissued on limited-edition cassette through the Infernal Machines imprint with all new artwork, recommended only to enthusiasts of the most nihilistic strains of extreme electronic noise and rabid industrial horror.
Originally self-released in 2008, Bagman's Welcome To My Fucking Misery was the first release from the project, delivering four lengthy tracks of vile, blackened noise and rumbling bass horror that stretches out for nearly half an hour. Tracks like "In Bonds" and "Power Thrust" explore the themes of deviant violent sexuality and bestial violence that course through the flesh of Bagman's electronic soundscapes like cancerous cells, the murderous whispered vocals blasted through so much putrid distortion that the images of depravity, sadism and savage lust become unintelligible murmurs, their hateful energy transmuted into a pestilential blur of sound. This is seriously heavy stuff, huge droning slabs of charred distorted rumble infected with those demonic vocals, often sinking into an almost HNW-style wall of distortion. There are strains of a more subdued, dread-filled atmosphere that lurk beneath all of the corroded blown-out drones, sputtering feedback, insectoid buzzing, punishing sheet-metal percussive rhythms and scrap-metal rituals, but moments appear briefly, quickly consumed within the pulsating black horror of Misery's foul, raw extreme electronic chaos and visions of abject suffering.
Limited to two hundred copies on pro-manufactured cassette.
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