Pharmakon – Margaret Chardiet – wrote this album after an unexpected and alarming hospital visit that required internal surgery. Her deeply personal response is just as internal, harnessing the sounds of the body in a pure expression of industrial noise. ‘Bestial Burden’ is such a full on response that it is in no way easy listening, and on headphones can be completely overpowering – even in the first track, ‘’, which is essentially a series of breathing patterns. Soon though the noise is overwhelming, one of the most primal sounds you could hear – as Chardiet turns on her own body with a mixture of anger, vulnerability and disbelief. Taken out of context, ‘Bestial Burden’ sounds like a horror film soundtrack, the sort of thing you’d expect to hear through a film like ‘The Descent’, where rabid flesh eaters run amok and the shadows are full of terror. You get the picture then – keep the light on and everything will be fine. But don’t say you weren’t warned! Not my thing at all, but incredibly powerful stuff nonetheless.
3 out of 5
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood
{http://soundcloud.com/experimedia/pharmakon-bestial-burden-shop}
