Alc’s time in Gangrene must’ve caused one of Oh No’s favorite tendencies to rub off on him. Like the Mediterranean-sourced samples that made up Dr. No’s Oxperiment and the Addis-addled Dr. No’s Ethiopium, Alchemist’s own take on the formula hopped on a rocket to Russia and built its own little Tarkovskian zone out of long-lost Brezhnev-era prog. The feature-filled album plays out like rapidfire collage, its attention-scattering lack of breathing room hinting at deeper strangeness the listener can puzzle out themselves. From an alternate soundtrack for Rocky IV (“Apollo’s Last Stand”; “Decisions Over Veal Orloff”) to a satellite drug-lab suite (“The Kosmos”, Parts 1-8), Alchemist’s uncanny alternate-Soviet-universe sources sound like little else out there.

– Nate Patrin