8/10

There are projects that pay tribute, and then there are projects that interrogate. On their newest collection 'Under the Influence', Mortal Prophets dismantle their inspirations, rewire them into strange new circuitry, and let the sparks fly. What emerges is a thrilling, often unsettling act of musical archaeology, where familiar shapes are pulled from the past and recast into something nervy, nocturnal, and emotionally volatile.

At the centre of it all is John Beckmann’s singular vision of a world where songs behave like living organisms. Each piece on this EP feels like a specimen under a microscope, its inner mechanics exposed and then pushed into new, often dangerous configurations. There’s a constant sense that the music could fracture at any moment, and that risk is exactly what makes it so magnetic.

Rather than recreating the originals in any recognisable form, Mortal Prophets use them as raw material. You can sense the DNA of glam, early electronic pop, late-night art rock and downtown grit woven into the fabric of these tracks, but it’s been twisted into something darker and more ambiguous. The mood swings from ghostly stillness to clenched-jaw urgency, often within the same piece, giving the EP a dream-logic quality where nothing ever quite settles.

The sound design is particularly intoxicating. Pulses throb like a nervous system. Synths glow and decay. Guitars scrape and shimmer in equal measure. Beckmann’s voice moves through it all like a spectral narrator, always carrying an air of haunted intimacy.

Taken together, these recordings form a stunning meditation on what it means to be shaped by the art that came before you. Here, Mortal Prophets collide with their history, letting it splinter and mutate. 'Under the Influence' is thrilling, confrontational, and strangely beautiful, proving that reinvention can be an act of fierce, fearless devotion.