On the sixth and latest Perturbator album, Age of Aquarius – James Kent’s first for the renowned metal label Nuclear Blast – he offers up a more propulsive spin on his moody early work, showcasing his most confident, plainly beautiful, and thematically refined music to date. Where his previous album, 2021’s Lustful Sacraments, was about bad habits and addiction, Age of Aquarius explores how individualism, conflict and war are interrelated and dominant societal forces. Both brutal and sublime, the album feels like the musical equivalent of a scream into the existential void.
