- Some of the greatest moments of the house and techno revival have also been those that are the darkest. Jon Hopkins, Actress and Burial are obvious touchstones. After last year’s enormous effort you can add Andy Stott to the list as well. Ben Frost -although he doesn’t actually make techno and certainly not house- with his crushing A U R O R A made a dance music tour-de-force in 2014 and one that bridges the gap between those others and the latest release by David Psutka under his Egyptrixx moniker, through a shared and comparatively unusual fondness for metallic, industrial sound. I must admit I haven’t been closely following the Toronto-based Psutka’s output on the redoubtable Night Slugs, but, now, out on his own, Transfer Of Energy [Feelings Of Power] the first release on his own Halocline Trance label, proves Egyptrixx and Psutka are clearly of the caliber of all the other artists mentioned.

To describe Egyptrixx as ‘experimental club music’ is a little un-informative. You can identify three main sources of inspiration. Kicking off with a track sharing its name with his new record label, you might get the impression that the only thing Psutka plans on releasing is dark ambient -the first of his major suits of sounds- as you’re confronted with a shimmering, raging F major synth chord that sounds like it’s being performed by an industrial generator on the verge of burning up. Two minutes in, however, eerie synth melodies rise up and intertwine with metallic, found-object sounding percussion: industrial of the artiest kind is his second set of sounds, the sort of thing Einstürzende Neubauten would be right at home with.

On the album’s second and title track Psutka continues merrily clanging away, more and more enthusiastically until he unleashes machine-gun repetitive beats, that are quasi-dancefloor, but more like the satirically overwhelming power of Laibach in the grip of their most martial passions. This is a machine-like echo of the third source of Psutka’s music, but you don’t get to it properly until halfway through the next cut, Body II Body.

The first half of that is slow and soundscapey, with a vocal by fellow gothically inclined Torontorian, Nyssa. She really tones it down from her usual output and the result is like an industrial version of Grouper. Almost exactly at the mid-point of this eight minute epic, Body II Body suddenly changes gear into bass-heavy techno with all the subtly claustrophobic texture of Jon Hopkins.

Techno, industrial and ambient are those three elements from which Transfer Of Energy [Feelings Of Power] is created and Psutka arranges them with a vibrant diversity. Discipline 1982 strips back much of the texture into a bright and steely industrial-techno banger that would fit well within Factory Floor’s repertoire. Not afraid of extended mixes or grandiloquent titles, Mirror Etched On Shards Of Amethyst heads in the opposite direction, maximising ambient texture, rolling and groaning, a formless mass only occasionally studded with sparse beats.

Not Vital is a curious track that seems like it might be owning up to its own superfluousness. Its figures of synth melody are reminiscent of the wandering, slightly electro-jazzy melodies of the album’s opening, but these repeat with an intensity like a tiger loping back and forth in a cage. If it never goes anywhere its very repetitive aggression does build suitable tension for a final ten-minute dance assault in Conduit [Repo]. Arguably the most integral balance between techno and industrial on the record. Clanging metal arpeggios cascade down throughout, worked into a powerfully sinuous bass beat. Psutka works his martial magic again with another machine-gun fusilade of scrap metal beats before the track spins off into atmospheric ambience and a mournful coda of synth melody.

Putting together dark ambient, techno and industrial, it’s the industrial which stands out. Comparatively little industrial music has found its way into the new millenium, even as every other sound of the last fifty years gets a second hey-day. Transfer of Energy is undoubtedly one of the most significant dance releases we’ll hear this year. As Egyptrixx, David Psutka deftly puts the case to hear again the fearsome thunder of industrial, worked seamlessly into a record of fiery texture and sleek dance lines.

- Chris Cobcroft.