DEVIL WORSHIP

Along with Ebeling-Hughes, Isis and Werewolves, and C3, Medusa Cyclone offers some of the most innovative Detroit art rock around. Under the Medusa Cyclone moniker, Keir McDonald has created a varied catalog of moody avant-garde rock and forbidding electronic soundscapes in a consistently brilliant fashion since the early ’90’s. If you’re lucky, perhaps you’ve caught a glimpse of his soundworld on one of his hard-to-come-by Manta Ray Fleet singles, or perhaps you have Medusa Cyclone’s eponymous debut. Mr. Devil takes several leaps and bounds beyond earlier MC material. This album’s driving, desperate feel has a fitful intensity that recalls the angular guitars of Sister-era Sonic Youth. Just as on previous releases, McDonald travels all over the sonic terrain, with plenty of electronic and guitar atmospherics tempering the rock. At several points on Mr. Devil, a tranced-out techno pulse surfaces. And there’s even a lighter song that sounds like the Volebeats visiting Another Green World. It’s only a brief respite from the ominous mood, however, and the album ends with a haunting exercise in Javanese guitar water torture. Plink -- plink -- plink --