8/10

There is nothing passive about MERTDER’s 'Carnal Riot'. Every beat feels confrontational. Every hook arrives coated in tension, sarcasm or emotional exhaustion. Even at its most danceable, the EP carries the sensation of someone dragging difficult truths directly into the strobe lights rather than escaping them. What emerges is a debut collection that feels volatile, theatrical and emotionally exposed all at once, delivering a release where industrial abrasion, queer provocation and emotional self-destruction collide in thrillingly unstable ways.

Across four tracks, MERTDER builds a world that feels grimy, seductive and deeply self-aware. The palette constantly shifts between industrial electronics, distorted club rhythms, darkwave atmospherics and flashes of hyperpop-style theatricality, yet the EP remains remarkably cohesive because of its emotional core. Beneath the aggression and playful provocation sits an artist wrestling openly with identity, shame, repression and personal reinvention.

Lead single 'Hussy' immediately establishes the project’s emotional intensity. Built on punishing electronic textures and jagged rhythmic movement, the track sounds like internal collapse weaponised into a dance anthem. The production feels intentionally unstable, constantly balancing moments of release against overwhelming pressure. There are traces of The Prodigy in the sheer physical force of the arrangement, but also flashes of darker, moodier electronic experimentation closer to Massive Attack. Yet MERTDER twists those influences into something far more personal and chaotic.

Elsewhere, 'Glass' transforms political frustration into hypnotic repetition, using its looping structure almost as a metaphor for societal stagnation itself. The bass-heavy production pounds forward relentlessly, creating a sense of emotional claustrophobia that mirrors the track’s themes of distrust and disillusionment.

'Whoredom', meanwhile, may be the EP’s boldest moment conceptually. What could have collapsed into shallow provocation instead becomes a furious rejection of shame-based morality and performative outrage. The house-influenced production gives the song a looser, more playful energy, but the anger underneath remains razor sharp. Here, MERTDER understands how humour and confrontation can coexist without diluting either one.

While closing track 'Geisha' provides the EP’s emotional release point. Beneath the pulsing electronics and dancefloor momentum sits a surprisingly sincere meditation on artistry, exhaustion and emotional service. It reframes performance as vulnerability, pursuing the act of offering parts of yourself to strangers in the hope of creating connection.

Rather than simply making dark electronic music, MERTDER creates emotional environments where discomfort becomes movement and vulnerability becomes confrontation. From beginning to end, 'Carnal Riot' throws itself directly into the chaos and dares us all to dance through it.