ReView: Silent Weapon – Purged0

Silent Weapon
Album: Purged
Category: Industrial / Electronic
Label: Self-released
Release Date: 2023-03-24
Author: Ryan James (dreamXE)

Released late in 2022, Purge was a sensational debut for Umair Chaudry’s Silent Weapon project, putting the Oxford artist’s talents as a producer to the fore with a masterful mix of dense electronics and ominous atmosphere. Wasting little time, Chaudry has quickly returned in 2023 with a remix follow-up, Purged. Advertised as a collection of dub remixes performed live, Purged finds Chaudry stretching out the best tracks from Purge into longer compositions, excising the vocals and emphasizing the rhythms and textures. The new mix of “Eggshells” finds Chaudry trading some of the immediacy of the original track to focus on the wobbling synths that bring to mind a twisted and mangled take on dubstep, while simultaneously pushing the menacing pads to the forefront. “Blood Drip” leaves the crunching beat of the primary track intact while peeling back the hip-hop breaks, working in crashes of mechanical whirring in their place as the track crawls along at a languid pace, like some protracted tour of an apocalyptic landscape. “I’d Give Anything Not to Feel” finds Chaudry playing up the rhythmic beat of the initial take while a lead synth seesaws in and out of focus, bringing washes of haunting pads to create an unsettling environment to envelop the listener. “The Revolving Doors of Hell” goes through a particularly noteworthy reinvention; while the grim atmospheres are brought to the center like in many of the other tracks present, the beats are warped and Chaudry is given room to bring some of the synths and programming that once lurked in the background into focus, providing a fresh take on an already strong track. Like many remix records, Purged is best viewed as a companion piece to the original, albeit a very impressive one in this case. The strong influence of industrialized dub was already quite apparent on Purge, and it’s bound to be a delight for those fond of such a style to find Chaudry experimenting with it further. It’s a sound that he knows well, and he continues to make a distinct mark in his artistic exploration with Silent Weapon.
 
Track list:

1. Down to Size [Dub Mix]
2. I’d Give Anything Not to Feel [Dub Mix]
3. Blood Drip [Dub Mix]
4. The Revolting Doors of Hell [Dub Mix]
5. I Know I See [Dub Mix]
6. Eggshells [Dub Mix]

 
Silent Weapon
Website, Facebook, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, YouTube, Instagram