Album Review : Paranormal Arson - Noxious
Antigonish,
Nova Scotia might not be the first place that springs to mind when you think of
blistering industrial death metal, but Paranormal Arson’s debut LP Noxious
is here to violently change that. The brainchild of James A. MacDonald, this
one-man sonic juggernaut fuses the fury of death metal with the grit of sludge,
the grind of industrial percussion, and a potent dose of sociopolitical venom.
The result is an album that feels like a descent into a rotting modern
hellscape — and it’s one of the most vital, gut-wrenching releases of 2025 so
far.
Noxious is a conceptually heavy album —
both in theme and sound. Right from the opening “Administrative Message,” a
distorted emergency alert test pulls you into a landscape of dread and panic.
Then “Hook, Line, Sinker” explodes into focus, skewering political manipulation
and propaganda over relentless riffage and mechanical drum blasts. From that
point on, the album rarely lets you breathe.
Each track
serves a thematic purpose. “The Suffocating Doom of Nothingness” is a crushing
instrumental that mimics the experience of being emotionally and economically
strangled by late-stage capitalism. “Air Quality Advisory” and “A Bloated Sac
of Noxious Gas and Bile” shift focus to the toxicity of right-wing media and
the weaponization of language, with the latter standing out as a grotesque,
noise-infused centerpiece filled with bile — both sonic and lyrical.
“The Leech”
takes direct aim at Canadian corporate greed, calling out grocery magnates like
Galen Weston Jr. in a furious minute of metallic protest. “Ad majórem Dei
glóriam” follows up with righteous anger, attacking the Catholic Church’s
legacy of abuse and systemic harm, particularly in Antigonish’s own “Little
Vatican.” These aren’t just rants — they’re searing indictments backed by
razor-edged riffs and oppressive production.
But Noxious
saves its biggest surprise for the end. The Bad Religion cover “You,” radically
reimagined as a nine-minute funeral doom drone, features ethereal lead vocals
from Celine Myette. Her haunting performance provides a stark contrast to the
growls and violence that precede it, making the song a desolate swan song for a
crumbling world. The final track, “signalnotfound.wav,” is a slow dissolve into
static — the album’s final breath, or perhaps its digital death rattle.
In a genre often plagued by clichés or aimless brutality, Noxious is purposeful and fiercely relevant. Paranormal Arson has not only crafted a dense, aggressive, and punishingly heavy album — they’ve made a statement. This is music for the end of the world, but it’s also a scream into the void for justice, for awareness, and for survival.
Rating : 4,5/5
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