Balance

The middle volume in techno producer Surgeon’s original trilogy of LPs starts out slow with the creeping, dubbed-out “Preview” and “Golden,” which approaches the ominous vibe of Scorn, but by the fourth track, “The Heath,” it’s pounding your skull with metal hammers, and second-half pieces like “Set One” and “Set Two” are almost industrial. This is a journey into a hellish underworld of sound, with the general vibe one of dense skull-pressure and nerve-attenuating high-energy programmed rhythms. Despite its title, there’s nothing balanced about this album: it’s techno bred for maximum discomfort and its aggression is aimed at you, rather than intended to fuel your own high-impact lifestyle.