PORTION CONTROL (UK) — “Possessed” Single from SEED EP3.1 | Artoffact Records Review by Infectious Unease Radio / Subterranean Zone Radio — Voice In The Void Gordon Lawrence Taylor
Review by Infectious Unease Radio / Subterranean Zone Radio — Voice In The Void Gordon Lawrence Taylor
Few names in electronic music carry the same gravitational weight as Portion Control. Architects of electro-industrial long before the terminology was fixed, their influence runs deep through the foundations of EBM, industrial, techno, and dark electronic dance culture.
With “Possessed,” one of the key additions to the newly remastered and expanded SEED EP3.1, Portion Control do not attempt to reclaim relevance — they reassert authorship.
From the opening moments, Possessed locks into a driving, mechanised pulse, a rhythmic language the band have always commanded: rigid yet volatile, hypnotic yet confrontational. The sequencing is disciplined and purposeful, favouring pressure and repetition over excess. This is not nostalgia rendered in chrome — it is continuity rendered in steel.
Vocals arrive like a controlled transmission from inside the system. Dean Piavani’s delivery is measured, prowling, and unsettling, reinforcing the band’s long-standing ability to balance menace with restraint. Rather than exploding outward, the track tightens its grip, drawing the listener deeper into its mechanical inevitability.
The production benefits markedly from the SEED EP3.1 remaster, overseen by Paul Lavigne at Kontrast Mastering. Low frequencies strike with greater authority, transients are sharpened, and spatial placement feels intentional rather than incidental. Possessed sounds modern without chasing modernity — a crucial distinction.
Historically, the band’s influence is woven deep into the architecture of modern industrial and EBM, shaping entire movements rather than individual acts. Yet Possessed makes one thing unmistakably clear: the originators are not frozen in history — they are active, present, and vital.
The release also marks a significant moment in the band’s long trajectory: their new partnership with Artoffact Records, a label whose curatorial vision aligns naturally with Portion Control’s uncompromising ethos. Alongside future releases, this alliance finally allows their catalogue to be presented with the clarity and reach it has long deserved.
As both a standalone single and part of the larger SEED EP3.1 statement, Possessed functions as a threshold track — a point of entry for new listeners and a reaffirmation for those who have followed the band across decades.
Portion Control were there at the beginning. They are still here — uncompromising, resolutely authentic, and unpossessed by time.
