Hazardous Material Pt.2

By: Specimen A
Label: Funkatech
Written by: Matty O
Rating: 6/10

Specimen A blast back out of High Wycombe with their bass-ripped bringing of comic book superhero duels to life. A good, raspy, waster of weaklings bassline on Hard Times – leaving technicalities for the eggheads and winning with a white-hot combination of keys – plays the evil nemesis with his finger on the world-exploding detonator. The looping, fast scaling synths give the race its bright sparks, acting as the champion looking to overthrow the tyranny with seconds remaining. Also bearing intervals when both pugilists are made to stop in suspended animation, as if they’re holding their punch-landing poses for the cameras, Hard Times adds itself to the list of breaks toughing it out in the next dimension with no time to lose. It’s a ruddy great list that doesn’t seem to go a week without being added to, but man up, get your power-pack on and go bang your head. 

Spec A’s original Exodus was a paint-peeling demo in ballistics, so the remix as Exodus RIP shouldn’t be anything less than tearing. Once again the synth work comes beamed from a future universe of flying cars and protein pills, rabidly going above and beyond squealing guitar ker-pows and swift drum rolls like a cyber pied piper. Save for a minor breather catching a reflection of itself, bass sinks its incisors into anything within biting distance, and everything plays to a theme of a game of Lazerquest where real bodies mean prizes. The track closes as if shaken by the adventure it’s endured, and listeners will know they’ve been in a lung-busting battle, even if the pursuit has taken a path they’ve trodden before