Experimental sound and industrial noise artist Pharmakon (aka Margaret Chardier) has announced a new record, Maggot Mass, out October 4 on Sacred Bones Records. With it, she has also put out the first single from the project, "WITHER AND WARP". Listen here:

The song is said to be inspired by a dream Chardiet had where her "self" disappeared and she "faded into the earth." Going further, Chardiet says:

"I had passed away into the earth, becoming part of it, or many parts of it - through the divine transfiguration of decay. And I was more content in this mode of being than I ever was with life as a human. This dream-logic hinged upon the hope that when we die, the body merely breaks down back into the energy that was trapped inside its’ matter. And all the carrion-eaters who might devour “you” will surely take “you” into “them”, rendering your death back into the folds of life. This song represents the ecstasy of that dream… joy in (a lack of) existence, the self scattered throughout many forms of being. How sweet the vision of a death without waste. But as always, we must awaken from such sweet dreams…”

The song (which also serves as the almost 9-minute opener of the album) starts slowly, with a mechanically clomping rhythm that gets more and more surrounded by buzzing, clattering sounds. Eventually, amidst varying peaks and crescendos, Chardiet's vocals come in, acidic and guttural, like a metal singer taking it easy, like she's casting some kind of spell.

Maggot Mass is Pharmakon's first album since 2019's Devour.

You can pre-save Maggot Mass here, or head to Pharmakon's Bandcamp for more.