Yen Tech's second album is fully eye-popping cyber-theatrical medieval deconstructed nu-metal. Like Amnesia Scanner banging out Slipknot covers with Siri and Arvo Pärt in a distant space prison. 'Assembler' is a bizarre record, even for SVBKVLT. Yen Tech's debut "Mobis" was a future-facing hi-tech party rap deconstruction, all blitzed trap and vaporwave shimmer. 'Assembler' is completely different proposal, addressing the post-COVID world with growling anxiety and lavish, multidimensional digital fireworks. Hoarse semi-human vocals are meticulously painted over hydraulic, machine-gun kicks, drunken synth drones and simulated choirs. Techpilled harpsichord chimes resonate over swirling, supernatural soundscapes, while alien chatter butts heads with disembodied artificial voices. 'Herd immunity' a voice echoes on 'Leech', as unsettling drones build through clouds of white noise. Yen Tech takes Amnesia Scanner's dystopian deconstructed airlock club template and de-bones it to fit the actual dystopia of 2021. Jarring, fanged and packed with sneering nu-metal adjacent attitude, 'Assembler' sounds as awkward and genre-allergic as an algorithmic playlist. It's an uneasy listening experience that's both familiar ('Extinction Game' is almost chart-ready future pop) and defiant all at once.
