***** Planetary Assault Systems – Sky Scraping (TOKEN103 – 2021)

A few decades ago I used to have a self-painted t-shirt with the text ‘pure techno’. This garment came to my mind when listening to “Sky Scraping”, full of raw power across the ten tracks that are, needless to say, all conceived for a club takeover.

The opener “Labstract” is spotting something in the sky and “One For The Groove”, with a fistful of drums, takes a step to the funky side. As the album was preceded by a Planetary Assault Systems’ EP early in 2021, two tools are inherited from there: the fittingly titled “Bang Wap” keeps the hot-o-meter in extremes, while “Say It Loud” could be filed under UK ghetto house.

Reverb-crazy “Give In” features vocal ripples and “If I Die” adds doomsday horns, while “Coal” is a homage to the Albion’s filthy industrial past and “Run” works as a jogging pacemaker in a megacity greenery. With “The Drag Train” you are not too wrong when thinking about Plastikman’s “Helicopter” and there is absolutely no chance to miss the grinding last track “Nano Chameleon”, which grows into a beast with complex patterns, a bit recalling Mills’ “Jerical”.

“Sky Scraping” comes from someone who celebrated his 50th birthday a few years ago, and obviously knows a thing about techno’s evolution, actually being one of main proponents in this process. And with Token, he has found a suitable platform for such an intense exercise.

Buy vinyl from Juno (UK)
Buy vinyl from Decks (DE)
Buy vinyl from Bent Crayon (US)
Buy vinyl from Disk Union (JP)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *