Deadbolt Magazine

I’ve had this sucker earmarked in my “to review” pile as something unique. I’ll admit—I occasionally judge a book by its cover, and The Cleaner is fascinating in its beautifully grotesque simplicity. Luckily the music is just as strange and captivating, blending elements of electronica, caustic industrial, and purely experimental meanderings into a soundtrack for a distressed and condemned cityscape. Hints of Coil and early Front 242 drip through the cracks, though only in short bursts as the music lurches and scurries on like an army of frantic ants escaping some unknown disaster. The “dirty” distortions and effects on the almost-minimal pieces lend irony to the title, and make The Cleaner so evocative. If the devil is in the details, this disc is surely banned from the Vatican.