By Giallo Disco standards, Blood Meridian is something of a curveball. Produced by debutant Ketsueki Sakuru, it cleverly combines the label’s usual synthesizer horror influences with percussion programming that draws inspiration from the throbbing worlds of EBM and New Beat. It’s a blend that works wonderfully well, from the bubbling, rising synthesizer lines and hypnotic rhythms of “The Judge”, to the cacophonous, slo-mo throb of “The Necklace” (all tactile chords and ricocheting drum hits), via the dark pulse of smack-jacker “The Judge”. Arguably best of all, though, is “The Kid”, which sounds like a pitched-down hook-up between John Carpenter and Nitzer Ebb.

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