Naming his debut album after a quote from infamous mentalist cult leader Jim Jones is one marker that South London producer King Cannibal possesses significantly darker, more twisted traits than the dubstep scene he has been lazily associated with.

The soundtrack to a joyride through a dystopian near future, Let The Night Roar is a menacing sound-clash of horror movie intensity, and one that only loosely lends itself to comparisons. It's no real surprise then that King Cannibal, real name Dylan Richards, claims the album has one chief inspiration: violence.

"About halfway through [making the album] it started to dawn on me that there is a common thread to these sounds. It's easy to find and pinpoint," he reasons. It's a dark album, nighttime music. As is the way with most producers, late nights are a pretty standard thing.

"Violence is something that always interests me, whether it's through films, or I listen to a lot of dark music. That's where it all comes from really. There is a positive use for it. It's not always a bad thing: there's consensual violence when it comes to sex, things like that."

Only occasional letting up from previous single Aragami Style to closing voodoo creepiness Flowers Of Flesh And Blood, atmospheric pauses such as dubstep-skating So... Embrace The Minimum are generally brutally overpowered. Plentiful samples hint at Richards' love of aforementioned video (and television) nasties, yet instead of Hammer Horror cheese, he names hard-hitting US prison drama Oz and unhinged 1980s vigilante series The Equalizer as his top violent viewing treats.

None of which gets us any closer to succinctly categorising Let The Night Roar. For his part, Richards – who initially rose to prominence via mix and remix work under previous alias Zilla – doesn't consider himself part of the dubstep scene.

"Dubstep started to influence me on the album," he muses, "but I always find the most interesting stuff happens on the fringes, the people that don't quite fit into genres. I wouldn't even say Burial, who has brought a lot of attention to the scene, was dubstep. What chance does someone like me have?"

A rhetorical question that may be, but Let The Night Roar has already picked up a BBC tip to make the next Mercury Music Prize shortlist, which buoyed Richards' spirits for a few hours at least.

"It's always good to read that sort of stuff, it cheers your afternoon up," he marvels. "But it's easily banished by a Google search of your name and finding someone who says something just as negative. On the dance side of things, the people that have won it have always had, for want of a better term, that 'coffee table' aspect. It's a grotty coffee table my album is going to sit on, if that's the case. I hate to think what sort of dinner party is happening when you put this on in the background; probably the sort of dinner party they have at the end of [murderous early 90s movie] Society."

WORDS Adam Anonymous

 

http://godsofwar.wordpress.com/

 

King Cannibal in the Knowledge download store

 

 

Check our exclusive King Cannibal free mix here.

 

• King Cannibal
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Related Links:

• Free King Cannibal 'Let The Night Roar' mix
• King Cannibal Releases Remix EP
• Free King Cannibal Mix
• King New Era Caps
• King Apparel Unveil SS11 Collection

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